Breaking Ice
by Flipdarkfuture95
Summary: A month has passed since Amon's disappearance, and Korra still hasn't been able to get her bending back. In the Southern Water Tribe capital of Inna, she and her friends find that the spirits have returned, and a figure from Tai's past seems to be connected to them. A short story connecting Book 1: Rising Tide and Book 2: Shattered Earth.
1. Breaking the Ice

**氷**

* * *

_Near the Ma To Glacier._

The wind howled across the frozen snowdrifts, rushing and whipping away as it brought a chill to anything it touched. They swept over the barren hills that surrounded the massive glacier, now shores for the waters that constantly flowed from the melting ice.

One of the stragglers in the yak herd to shake itself to keep the warmth going through its body as it snorted and twisted it's head to the side, peering at the top of a snow-covered hill through slowly blinking eyes. The animal snorted again, dismissing the strange shadowy figures forming inside the blizzard that had just crested the hill. It slowly caught up with the rest of the herd, dipping its head to lap at the icy cold water, doing the exact same thing the fifteen others were doing. They all stood next to each other, drinking their fills in preparation for the long walk to the sunnier parts of the snow-blasted land near the coastline. The Yaks continued to lap at the water, their thick tongues slapping and whipping at the surface of the water noisily, masking any sounds something would make if it decided to creep up on the vulnerable herd.

Ten of these somethings silently weaved between a scant line of dead bushes, approaching the rear of the herd. They all stopped, and the largest of them bared yellowed fangs as it stared at the appetizing mounds of meat and muscle laid out for them like a feast. At an unheard command, the three thinnest of them moved away from the group, using the ring of dead bushes as cover as they ran around the flank of the herd, stopping when they were but twenty meters away from one of the outliers.

The leader of the pack took a step forward as it lowered it's head, keeping two eyes on the herd as it continued to drink the water, unchanged from before. The other members of it's pack kept at a distance as they followed. As the leader's snout poked out of the bushes, in plain view of any Yak that turned around, it bared it's teeth and uttered a low growl. The three that were lying in wait all howled together, spreading panic among the herd as they began to bay and moo, tripping over themselves to get away from the three fast-moving wolves that sprinted towards them, teeth flashing as they barked and growled.

A brave and large Yak stood it's ground, steam rising from it's snorting nose as it scraped at the ground with a hoof, preparing to charge the group of thin wolves. Before it had a chance the leader's howl joined with the others as they burst out of the bushes, fangs bared as they ran straight towards the herd as it trampled towards them. The leader's howl was cut short as the wind shifted, and it skidded to a halt. The other pack members did the same as they flattened their ears, whining and shifting about as the herd ran around them, trying to escape from the two dark shapes rushing down the hill towards them.

* * *

"A question if I may, young man?" a withered and old man, looking like he was weighed down by the dozens of medals pinned onto the front of his crimson overcoat, shuffled forward a little, addressing the young inventor who was currently crouched next to his pride and joy.

The young inventor waved his hand airily. "I _am young_, and yes you may." he held up a finger to the gathered generals and admirals as he poked a tongue out in concentration, trying to worm his way towards the firing chamber to get rid of the spent round that decided to get stuck in there. He was rewarded with a satisfying clunk as the ejection port did it's job, neatly depositing the spent shell into a bucket on the ground beneath, the first of many that would be fired today. While he was the son of the now richest man in the world, and at the same time the head of a huge shipping magnate, that didn't really compare to the sheer _joy _he felt when watching his creation do it's work.

He shook his hand to dull a ache, and thought he could see a cracked nail as he nodded at the old Fire Nation General, who frowned for a moment. "We've all seen the destructive magnitude of this contraption." his next words were overtaken by murmurs of acceptance and agreement among his slightly younger peers, who stroked their salty black beards while next to them a group of brown and green clothed men glowered. The old man waited patiently for them to keep their peace, and he started up again. "But I must wonder; what is the point of such a device if it does the same job a earth or fire bender can do?"

Murmurs broke out again as the young man shook his head and chuckled, straightening as he ran a hand through his shiny brown hair. "Glad you asked, general Urso, glad you asked." he scanned the gathered faces of the crowd, mentally filing away the most likely to invest in his company. He turned and rapped the side of the the carriage, the tough metal answered back with a series of dull dings, which perplexed the gathered military officials.

"I'll take it from the top. This here?" he swept an open palm at his pride and joy, which seemed to gain an lustrous sparkle just by getting all eyes to fall on it. "This gentleman, is what the boys over in Tui Industries R&D call a cannon." he pressed a hand to his chest. "Me? _Pride and Joy._ Several years of my life went into making this gal, and owing to the fantastic people at Future Industries, she's now ready to be shown to the world." he hid a grin as they were taken in by his words again, he stood and faced them. "The assemblage is comprised of a tungsten and steel alloy, using a mixture only now classified as a company secret. It has one barrel, that can be aimed in any direction-"

"Future Industries? That may present a problem, young man. If any the _Sato girl_had a hand with this device, we won't-"

The young man's smile was tight as he fixed the old general with an icy glare. "We won't what? We won't keep up with the times? We won't be associated with the kind folks at Future Industries? My dear general Wu, just because ms Sato helped get this project off of the ground doesn't jeopardise its effectiveness or capability in any way." his smile became genuine as the old fart shut his trap for once. "So. Next question.

"What happens if the enemy flanks this contraption?" Wu asked again, making Verick's teeth ground with the way he kept saying 'contraption'. Like it was some kind of unstable pet project of some science fair kid.

He beamed. "Simple!" he ran over to the thick disc that supported the entire marvel. He stopped near one of the many iron bars poking out it's sides, serving as a quick way for a team of people to change the barrel's facing. Still, he _had _designed it, so it could also be operated by one man if need be. He grunted a little as he put his all into pushing against the iron bar, slowly the entire thing began to turn direction slightly, much to the gasps and awe-struck murmurs in the assembled generals. "This method of changing direction was inspired by your country's antique catapults, which I'm afraid have almost _negligible _maximum range when compared to this baby."

Urso frowned again as Verick pushed at the bars again to bring the cannon back into it's original facing. He snapped his fingers and two men wearing grey jumpsuits rushed out from the tent nearby, donning goggles and thick earmuffs. One of them flipped open a box nearby, which contained strangely colored shells compared to the ones they were firing beforehand. The man bent down and wrapped his arms around one, bending down to pick it up before waddling over to the artillery emplacement, the other one had just opened a port on the side and dragged out a slide with a hole punched through the middle, just the right size for the shell.

Verick gave them a thumbs up as he turned back towards the generals and admirals. "As you can probably tell, this round looks a little bit different than the others. I suggest you watch _closely_. General can you please refrain from any more questions until after the test fire?" he didn't wait for an answer as he glanced at the two men, who had placed the black colored shell into the slot in the tray, and were sliding it back into the firing chamber. One of them grabbed a wheel mounted nearby with two hands, and turned it, causing the tray inside to begin turning as well until a loud click was heard, signalling that the round, firing chamber and barrel were all aligned.

"Gentlemen. Goggles and earmuffs. This one's gonna be loud." he announced, pulling out his own from one of the pockets on his cream colored pants. He pulled them down over his eyes, slapping them into place as he placed the earmuffs on. He turned around to make sure everyone else had as well, and waited a few seconds before pulling out a pair of binoculars, flipping a switch on them that made a small but powerful light sputter to life. He gazed through them at the massive hunk of ice in the distance, sitting alone in the middle of a massive pool of water which had been steadily getting larger each year.

He spotted the tiny red flag standing on top of it, and gave a thumbs up to the two men as he cleared his throat. "Direction: Northbound. Angle: 30 Degrees. Fire when ready." he stated loudly to the two men. They both strapped on their ear muffs and goggles before confirming. The one on the seat nodded slightly, and ground his teeth a little as his partner pulled the lever nearby.

And then everything _shook_.

With a mighty roar a burning hot lance shot out of the barrel, slamming into the side of the glacier and sending massive cracks throughout it's surface as it embedded itself in the ice. Verick smiled as some of the younger Fire Nation generals nodded in approval, in contrast to the older ones who bickered and shouted in outrage and shock. He noticed that the Water Tribe contingents still hadn't said much, but he would change that when he showed them his next invention. The roaring subsided and the ground stopped shaking enough for the young inventor to talk normally.

"Now."

The fuse on the black canister had run out, and the metal skin ruptured as the potent powder inside was detonated, resulting in a massive explosion that absolutely vaporized the unfortunate glacier, and threw up most of the water around it into the air. A few drops managed to land on Verick's goggles as he fixed his pride and joy with a proud look.

A shrill noise was heard. And he frowned, that wasn't coming from the lake. The wind began to pick up, and the generals and officials began shouting in alarm as it quickly became impossible to beyond five feet in front of themselves. Verick staggered towards the artillery gun as something heavy slammed into his side, sending the young man sprawling face down in the snow.

As the group of officials shouted in alarm trying to weather the freak blizzard, a dark blur rushed over the tops of their heads, unseen as it followed the piercing cries of it's quarry.

* * *

_A few miles out from Inna, the Southern Water Tribe capital._

The boy had never been bothered by the cold. It was a inconvenience to him, and nothing more. It didn't bother him the way it did others, which at one stage he foolishly thought it meant he was better then them. His older brother had threatened to cave his head in if he kept that up.

So he stopped. Thoughts of his lost home brought a wistful look to his grey eyes, and he found himself going back to his encounter with Tarrin at the arena, and the words he spoke.

Amon never lies.

But that was the problem. He did lie, he did kill their parents and he did burn down their home. Even after all of that he still couldn't convince his older brother that his idol had been lying to him from the start. Then again, he wasn't sure what was true anymore, especially after the man's words to him in that storage room.

A shiver ran through him, and working on instinct he clamped his gloved hands to his sides, rubbing them up and down to get warmth flowing through him again. Well, he wasn't _usually _bothered by the cold. He was grateful for the new hood as well, and while he wouldn't admit it, he appreciated it immensely, and how warm it kept him.

The next time he saw Senna, he would thank her. In private, hopefully without Korra listening in. He'd never hear the end of it. He sighed as his thoughts drifted towards her, and how different she'd been acting over the past month. Katara wasn't able to restore her connection to the other elements apart from air, and Tai was sure that was still the case when she came back from those cliffs. Something was different with her though, and it wasn't the fact that she was holding hands with Mako. He immediately shied away from those kind of thoughts.

Instead he focused on Amo- _Noatak's _words to him about his master. At first he had dismissed them as the words of someone trying to deface a dead man. But now, as he thought about them, he couldn't shake the fact that Telei may have been hiding something from him the two years he was training with him. He had always been cold and abrasive to the boy and bossed him around, but that was just a natural part of being a student to a master, not a sign that he was evil or anything.

"You do realize how cold it gets out here?" he jumped a little, and turned to see Korra standing there, fully covered up in her fur parka. A little smirk played on her lips as she tilted her head at his little display. "Weren't expecting me?"

The urge to snark overwhelmed him. "I was. Just with Mako in tow or something."

"Uh huh." she didn't sound impressed as the boy flipped the hood over his head, providing a warm haven against the biting winds. "How's my mom's handiwork doing?"

He gave her a thumbs up as he pulled on the draw strings. "It's alright, I suppose."

"You _love it_." she chuckled, he nodded before turning back to watching the frozen wastes, a frown forming on him as he noticed a massive cloud rushing towards them.

"Looks like there's a blizzard coming." she stood next to him as he watched it slowly draw closer and closer to them. He glanced at her as an idea formed in his cold-dulled mind. "How's your uh... problem?" he hadn't actually asked her about that particular topic until now. Knowing to take it slow with her, especially when it concerned stuff like that. Of course she was prone to being wildly unpredictable, so his method wasn't concrete.

He lowered his head as her shoulders sagged a little. "Still the same." she muttered, looking at the snow for a moment.

"Look- I'm sure you'll get them back. But - um - look at the bright side! You can now focus _completely _on airbending! Isn't that cool?" he grinned cheekily, trying to at least get something out of her.

It took a few seconds, but somehow it worked. She chuckled as she glanced at him with a little grin. "You are horrible at cheering a girl up, you know that?"

"I take offense to that." he replied, still keeping the grin on as her shoulders rose just a little. "But don't worry, I'm sure if you follow Aang's advice, you'll be slamming rocks, throwing water, and blasting fireballs in no time!"

Her chuckle was a bit stronger this time, and sounded much better as she folded her arms. "Okay, that attempt saw improvement." she admitted, shaking her head in amusement as the boy bowed. She noticed that he had tried to hide a frown from her as he straightened, and she wouldn't let him off the hook. "You have that look again."

The boy blinked twice in confusion. "Of course I do. My default expression." he said, trying to deflect her question, and was failing horribly at it. She tilted her head and smiled evilly at him. "Fine." he sighed, looking away from her and back at the frozen wastes, which played host to a slowly creeping wall of rushing snow and wind. "It's what Amon said, back at the arena."

"Tai-"

"Hang on." he took a deep breath, letting the cold and frigid air rush down into his lungs, the little action having a therapeutic effect that cleared his thoughts of the terrible images that still haunted him. "He said that he didn't kill my parents, that he didn't burn down my home."

She took a step closer to him. "Tai, he was lyi-"

Another deep breath as he fought to keep his hands from clenching into fists. "As much as I hate to say it. I don't think he did."

Korra was quiet as he continued. "He knew Telei, said that he served with my dad in the United Forces. They were sent to investigate the disappearance of everyone in a village on the northern coast; Korra, he said that _Telei_ was the cause." suddenly those rebellious thoughts of change were quelled, and all he could do was laugh bitterly next, as if he had just said some kind of twisted joke. "But that's crazy right? My master would never have done that!"

Her eyes were fixed on a rock poking out of the snow nearby, as she nodded slowly. "Yeah..." she looked up, noticing that the blizzard had covered a lot of ground, and was beginning to close in on them. "We should get back to the others. We'll need to start heading out soon if we don't want to get caught in that blizzard."

"Huh? Oh, right." he started his trudge down the hill, stopping as he was about to leave the crest. He looked at Korra, whose hands clenched into fists briefly before she nodded to herself and walked to his side. The two of them kept close to each other as they left the little hill behind, lessons about survivability in the south pole going through their heads. The boy paled as one lesson came to mind: It was always death for those out here alone.

"So what's Inna like?" he asked, adding his voice to the softly keening wind as she glanced at him.

"Fantastic. You'll love it, and it'll look even better since the New Moon festival began." she really wanted to show her friends what a Southern Water Tribe city was like, and she was sure that they would all agree with her. "You _have _to see the Sokka memorial, oh, and the Penguin-Otters! They're cute!" she found herself gushing as a scarcely-felt vibrance sprang up inside, making her want to talk more and more about what her tribe had to offer.

"I'll take your word for it. Sounds nice." he said, stopping the tide of information he was sure she was barely trying to hold back. He spotted a group of blurry orange lights in the distance. "Looks like we're nearly there."

* * *

The boy sighed as he kept the fire going for just a little longer, rubbing his hands together to get some warmth inside him before straightening and heading towards one of the nearby gas lamps. The orange light they threw off was meager, and only reached to about a quarter of the campsite by themselves, rectified by having one stand in each of the four corners of their camp.

Mako extended his finger and concentrated for a second, a shot of familiar warmth ran down his arm and into the tip of that finger, heating up to a brilliant height for a brief second before being released as a single flame resting just above the tip of his index finger. He held it near the sputtering flame inside the grey canister, fueling the lantern for a few more minutes before it would inevitably start sputtering again.

He shook his finger, and the little flame died out, to be honest he was getting a little tired pf having to light and relight the lanterns and fire every few hours, not for the first time a dark little thought ran across his mind, asking why Korra couldn't do it herself. He put a clamp down on that thought, right now he - and Tai - were the only ones who could keep the campsite warm.

Walking over to the green tent nearby, he pulled the flap over it's side, letting him and the elements get access to attacking his snoozing little brother, who was completely obscured by a fur-lined brown swag that didn't move at all, save for a little bundle of red fur that shivered as the wind began to blow over him.

His little brother mewed something as he approached, making him roll his eyes as he nudged the side of the swag with his thick-soled boot. It had a little effect on Bolin, whose arm rose up into the air and pawed at some invisible annoyance, and mewed again as he gave up, letting his arm fall limply onto his gently rising chest as he rolled onto his side, providing the perfect opportunity.

The urge to roll his eyes was too great as Mako grinned evilly, winding his leg back as he looked for his brother's weak spot. The butt. He noticed that Pabu was still in the way, and before he exacted his own brand of personal brotherly love he bent down and rubbed the little ferret's chin.

Pabu woke up and shook himself, chittering when he saw that it was his partner's older brother that was giving him the treatment. He enjoyed it like a rare delicacy, stretching out slowly as he slowly fell back to sleep. He squeaked in alarm as the giant picked him up by the scruff and deposited him on his shoulder. Not really caring why he did that, the Fire Ferret did a little shrug and curled back into a ball.

Now he could begin. He took his left foot off of the ground, bending his knee and bringing his leg back so that he could maximum wind up. He closed one eye, using the other to spot his target with pinpoint precision, which he was always better at than Bolin. Like the hammer of destiny he swung his leg forward, slamming the thick tip of his boot into his brother's backside, whose yelp was loud and piercing as he woke up, looking around in desperation as he searched for the source of the almighty kick.

"Wake up, Bo'." Mako's tone was calm as he brought his foot back down to the ground, not able to contain the smirk on him as Bolin sat up and scowled.

"I never get any peace with you around!" he complained as he rubbed his tortured backside.

Mako couldn't contain his laughter as he watched his little brother make strange little sounds, with words to do with torture, violence and large boulders mixed in. "As long as I'm around, peace is a foreign _concept!_"

He actually attempted to contain his amusement as he turned around the leave the tent, only stopping for a moment to glance at the hilarious sight of his little brother. "Bro, can you close the fla-"

"Time to wake up, Bolin." he replied, waving his hand a he left the tent and took a deep breath of the cold air, which gave him feelings of refreshment rather than little needles of pain now. It took a while for him to acclimatize to the incredibly inhospitable land. He noticed two blurry figures jogging down the hill nearby, heading towards the campsite. He frowned before he realised who they were, and walked to meet them by one of the warm gas lamps.

A few minutes later they came into view properly, and he couldn't wipe the smile off of him as Korra spun him around in a wild embrace, locking her lips with his as she sighed happily. He didn't see the look of minor disappointment on Tai as he trudged past the two of them, crouching down near the fire for a moment to relight it before heading into nearby tent.

"Took me a while, but I found him." she whispered as she planted a little kiss on the side of his neck, flushing Mako's cheeks a little bit.

"What were you two talking about?" he ventured, planting one in return on the spot on her cheek she really _loved_.

She fell quiet as she pulled away from him a little. "I really think that he wouldn't like me telling you." she muttered.

He frowned. "Korra I- sorry, okay? It doesn't matter." he smiled as he released her, glancing around as Asami popped out of her and Korra's tent, and walked towards the two of them, dropping a heavy pack near the fire.

"We'd better get going." Korra said, leaving him to head towards the tents. She sidestepped Bolin as he burst out of the boy's tent, eyes darting to and fro as he ran for his bush, hoping that it wasn't covered by snow as he practically hopped from foot-to-foot.

The girl opened the flap on her and Asami's tent and ducked inside, kneeling down to start rolling up her navy-colored sleeping back, which she noted with delight was still incredibly warm and snug even after all the years since Mom and Dad first made it for her. She didn't have many clothes to pack up, but all of those thick socks were treasures, and she placed all five of them into a pocket on the swag, zipping it up as she grabbed a length of rope nearby, placing a hand on the rolled up swag to stop it from moving as she wound the rope around it's length. Once she tied it off she rolled it across the floor to the side of her pack, using the straps to keep it secure. She grunted a little as she hefted it onto her back, stepping outside into the cold to deposit it by the fire.

It took a few more minutes for everyone else to get their gear together, with the brothers taking the longest since they had no clue how to even operate a sleeping bag, she took great pleasure in ribbing her boyfriend constantly, only stopping when he gave her a kiss to keep her quiet. She didn't mind.

But soon enough everyone was ready, and the tents were packed up and securely fastened to Naga as they prepared to set off towards the nearby city lying at the bottom of the hill. And none too soon, as she looked back in the blizzard's direction, she realized it was beginning to pick up pace again.

* * *

"Your turn." Bolin grinned as he scratched Pabu's chin, currently the only thing visible to the naked eye, as the rest of him was currently curled up underneath his partner's fur lined collar.

"Ice." he answered with a sigh, trying to wonder just how Bolin expected a different word beginning with I if all he could see was _Ice_.

"Are you _sure?_" he poked Tai to for two reasons; to get him to answer quickly; and to also stop the numbness spreading through his hand.

Tai stopped for a moment to look Bolin in the eye, trying not to roll his own in the process. "Yes, Bolin, I'm _sure_." he continued his walk, trailing behind Asami as she followed the happy couple down the gently sloping hill of snow. It was tough going without having to answer inane I Spy questions.

"Correct." he searched for some other word to use, something wildly different to ice, something that would even leave the smart airbending speechless. He rubbed his hands together with glee as he spotted his target. "Alright then. _C_."

"Cold." his friend answered immediately, tugging absent-mindedly on one of his hood's drawstrings.

"Nope." Bolin cheerily said, now grinning.

"Crack." his next answer was, Tai pointed out a tiny little crack on top of a ice-covered rock nearby.

"Nah."

The boy was grateful for the hood so Bolin couldn't see the frown forming. He rubbed his chin with a gloved hand as he scanned the foggy expanse around them, getting a little desperate when he noticed that there couldn't possibly be anything out there that would start C apart from Cold. His scanning eyes accidentally settled on the backs of the two teens at the front of their little group, and he found himself scowling as he realized what Bolin meant.

"Couple." he muttered darkly, not bothering to hide his disappointed tone as he increased his pace, catching up to Asami. He tapped her on the shoulder, and her eyes widened for a moment as she quickly turned towards him, before she smiled.

"What's up?" she had some difficulty tilting her head under the thick and heavy hood, a question in her stunningly beautiful eyes.

He was about to answer when he noticed that the wind had changed direction, and had increased in speed. He held up a finger as he stopped, listening for anything that disturbed the quiet keen of the wind. Unfortunately that was the problem, as was pointed out when Korra ran towards him, alarm in her eyes.

"The blizzards about to hit, we're gonna be caught in the middle of it!" she had to raise her voice over the wind as it began to howl louder and louder, and there was actual fear on her features.

"What can I do?" he asked, not sure why she came to him specifically. She growled and slapped him on the back of the head.

"Airbender remember! If we work together, we can keep the brunt of it from hitting us." he knew instantly what she meant now, if he concentrated enough he would be able to force the winds to go around their group, rather than straight through. It was tougher than it sounded though, and he realized even Tenzin hadn't attempted something like this.

"Okay. Korra, are you up to this?" he asked, cautious of her problem affecting her.

"I can. You and Tenzin taught me the basics. I'll tell the others." she put a hand on his shoulder before running off towards the front of the group, holding a hand over her eyes to keep the rapidly moving snow from getting in them.

A minute later, everyone was gathered in a little circle around Naga, who Korra had instructed to to lay down as flat as she could. Next, she got Bolin to earthbend a clear patch of snow-free soil around the polar-bear dog, while Mako walked around the group keeping the air as warm as possible.

Tai whipped his head towards Bolin. "Can't you earthbend a dome or something?" he had to practically shout to even be heard as the howling increased to an almost unbearable level, every time he turned he risked being completely disoriented by the blinding snow. He moved his arms in large sweeps, working at moving all of the constantly moving snow out of the warm air to keep their vision clear.

He turned towards him again, another question rising before he saw that he was beginning to shiver constantly, and his breath was becoming ragged. His eyes were wide as his lips had gone pale, and his skin was quickly going the same color. Korra ran to his side and began rubbing his back, trying to get some warmth circulating as she guided him towards Naga's warm flanks. He shook his head as he gritted his teeth and knelt for a moment, closing his eyes. Korra and Mako looked at each other with worry as his eyes flashed open as he released a deep and shuddering breath. He straightened and flung his arms skyward.

The ground rumbled and the ice below their feet cracked and shattered as the earth trapped beneath followed his command. A ring built itself around them, enclosing them from the elements as the two halves met above their heads, dulling the sound of the winds and snow raging outside. Bolin swayed for a bit before he flung his palm out in one direction after another. Slits in the walls opened up, to let enough air in for them to breathe.

Mako grabbed him as he stumbled, and gently laid his little brother on Naga's side, only having eyes for him as the blizzard begun throwing it's full force at them.

It was hard keeping track of how much time had passed before the keening noises outside slowly died down, and none too soon. Bolin was awake long enough to make a opening in the side for them to crawl out of, and everyone began to move towards it when the sound of footsteps outside coupled with a strange howling stopped them.

"I'll go." he said after a few minutes of tense silence. They all responded with varying degrees of surprise, Korra most of all when she scowled at him, shaking her head firmly.

"Nuh uh, you don't know the terrain-" she began to argue when he stopped her with a quick grin.

"I know that, look, I won't be going far, and sorry about this, but you won't be able to survive out there with the winds as they are. Not a snowball's chance in Caldera."

"Be careful." she sighed, looking more than a little worried.

"If I'm not back in five minutes or so, well, you get it. But try to at least make an attempt and rescuing me." his smirk was wry as they all nodded sombrely.

Tai nodded, taking deep breaths before crawling through the little gap in the stone, immediately snow got into his eyes as his head poked out from the bottom of the dome. The boy shook his head to throw the snow off ass he pulled his hood up, closing it up as much as possible. It was pitch black, and almost impossible to hear anything apart from the keening. He made sure his gloves were on tight as he straightened, keeping close to the dome as he trudged towards the side where he heard the howling and footsteps.

He stopped for a moment as he heard another howl again, this time coming from further off in the blizzard. If it was only a howl he wouldn't have bothered, but then he heard a unmistakably human voice follow, gruff and almost indiscernable, but still there.

Despite what his suspicions were, he was certain that it must be a hunting party. That meant they could get help in navigating through the blizzard. He chewed his lip as he considered moving out into the blizzard after them. It sounded like they weren't that far away, and at times he noticed a tall and dark blurry shape standing still.

The boy made his decision, and trudged forward, keeping the brunt of the wind off of him by constantly swirling his wrist to manipulate the air. It was slow going, and he found it hard to keep track of the direction he was headed, the compulsion to change direction kept coming back even though it would only serve to get him lost in the constantly howling maelstrom.

Another howl, except this time, it sounded more like... a yelp? In fact, now that he was getting closer he realized those howls were very high pitched, and it almost sounded like whatever was out there was hurt and in pain.

He sighed. He hated this compulsion to help out sometimes, and his weakness for animals really didn't help. He picked up the pace, going into a light jog as the wind continued to whip around him. Luckily the snow thinned out a little, taking him longer to tire out, he fought the urge to go into a run, following Korra's advice of taking it slow and steady.

A man's voice again, this time far more distinct and clearer than before as the boy saw a blurry figure standing in the snow just up ahead. He slowed down, not wanting to spook him in case he had a weapon. Carefully he advanced, noting somewhere in the back of his mind that the wind was strangely nonexistent around the man, wait, actually it was being guided around him. That surprised the boy, since it meant that someone else apart from _him_ was controlling the wind nearby.

Continuing forward, he spotted a strangely shaped mound of snow near the man's feet, which were wrapped up in thick boots. The man made a slight movement, tipping his head up slightly to watch the boy draw closer. Tai was getting cautious now as he approached, stopping a few metres before the hooded man. It was impossible to see his physical features, being that a massive fold of cloth stretched in between the sides of the hood, hiding everything but his eyes.

Grey eyes, cold and uncompromising stared at him, and the boy fought the urge to shiver as he returned the look back. The mound of strangely shaped snow whimpered, and Tai's blood ran cold when he realised it was the one making the noises from before. Strangely enough, the man didn't even react to the small animals injured cries, instead he reached behind his back towards a handle poking out from his shoulder.

A sharp rasp of metal on leather followed, and the boy's eyes boggled when the man's hand came back wrapped around the handle of a wickedly curved sword, the edge impossibly sharp as fresh blood coated the tip of it. The man continued to stare into the boy's eyes as he fished a cloth out of his pocket and ran it down the naked metal, cleaning it and placing it back in it's sheath.

He did this.

The boy couldn't stop his hands from shaking as he narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he demanded, taking a step forward, the man moved like the wind itself and the touch of a sharp edge made itself known on the boy's throat. He resisted the urge to swallow when the sword was withdrawn, and as the man walked away, he was certain that something had whispered in his head. He froze, not daring to move as the wind died down quickly, and the snowstorm cleared up slightly, enough for him to see a bit better.

"You-" he whipped around, a growl rising before it died down. He was gone. A whimper made him turn towards the small mound of white fur laying half-buried in the snow nearby. Without a moment's thought he jogged towards it, bending down as the animal tried to move around, probably thinking he was the one who did this to it.

The boy placed a gentle hand on it's side to still the little creature. He grimaced as he felt the shuddering movements of it's chest, carefully, he dug out the snow around it, placing his hands underneath it. The creature growled, but he didn't care, his grip on the little guy slipped for a moment as he felt a slick and sticky sensation. As he slowly lifted the animal off of the ground, more shuddering ran through it's tiny frame, and it whimpered again.

Even though it was seriously wounded, it's eyes still looked strong and defiant as a growl rose in it's throat. He held it close to his chest, taking a deep breath to warm himself as he turned around, beginning his trek back towards the others. Luckily he hadn't needed to go far, as something large and whiter than it's surroundings bounded towards him, barking to alert the four people trailing behind her that she had found Tai.

As the large polar-bear dog padded towards the boy, her head tilted as she noticed the white bundle of fur cradled in his arms, which growled as she leaned forward to sniff.

Tai's eyes narrowed as he saw the others running towards him, and a niggling thought in the back of his head told him he shouldn't tell them just yet.

* * *

**A/N**

And we are back!

This will just be a little short story, about five chapters or so, that will bridge the five month gap between Book 1 and Book 2.

I look forward to those reviews, guys!


	2. A Warm Welcome

氷

* * *

_Inna, During the New Moon Festival._

Tenzin had a disapproving look on him for some reason, prompting Tai to sit up and ask what was wrong. "You've got that look on you again, master."

The master airbender opened his mouth to begin a lecture about not traveling in the middle of a _blizzard_ when a grey mass of fur shot between his legs, nearly making him stumble backwards and ruining the authoritative wise man image. He tried opening his mouth again, and was interrupted once more as Meelo raced through his legs as well, laughing as he chased the little wolf pup around the room, trying to herd him towards Ikki who was lying in pounce mode on top of the seal skin sofa nearby, just above Mako and Korra's heads.

But the little wolf pup had a very keen eye, and quickly rolled out of the way of the airborne child, who slammed down into the carpet at a high velocity, and immediately stood up and ran after the creature, evidently none the worse for wear. The pup immediately made a beeline for its rescuer, who had the breath taken out of him when the little bundle of fur slammed its entire body into his chest. Tai flailed his arms for several seconds to cling onto a semblance of balance, before accepting gravity and falling back onto the couch, a unimpressed look on him as the little wolf began licking his cheeks and barking into his ear.

He heard a shrill squeak from his left and managed to turn his head enough to see a flying mass of red land on top of the young wolf's back, it howled and rolled around on the couch to dislodge his furry attacker.

Korra rolled her eyes as she managed to unwrap herself from Mako's arms, and walked over to the closed window nearby, she flung it open and whistled. A massive shadow fell over the two fighting creatures as they rolled and tumbled across the couch, not noticing Naga as she growled. The sound made them stop immediately, and the pup sat on its haunches, as still as possible while Pabu retreated back to Bolin and Asami, vowing that it would get the better of the new arrival.

Naga looked down at the young pup, and licked the top of its head with her thick and long tongue, the pup made an unimpressed noise as Naga withdrew herself from the window, letting Korra close the window again.

"So are you thinking of a name for the little guy?" Asami asked from her spot on the couch, watching as Tai frowned.

"Uh… oh." He hadn't actually thought about it until now. It was only a day or so since he found the little guy, did he really need to have a name so soon?

The aforementioned little guy hopped into his lap, immediately curling up to take up the most space possible between the boy's legs. This action drew an massive amount of d'awws from across the room, mostly from all of the girls present. Tai threw a look at Bolin when he did this as well, he didn't seem to care though, intent on staring at the cute mass of fur that had so grabbed everyone's attention over the past day.

"How about Aang!" Meelo shouted, running across the room to kneel in front of the boy, scratching the wolf pup on the nose.

Tai found himself looking at Tenzin, who rolled his eyes as he straightened and walked over. Ikki ran through his legs and sat next to Meelo, practically bouncing up and down as the little guy licked her hand. "Sky-Princess?" she suggested.

"Heimeng?" Tai noticed Jinora was looking over the top of the book at him and the little pup, with an eyebrow arched.

"Pabu junior."

"Bolin, ask _Pabu_ first. What about Snow? Or Ghost?" Korra offered, sitting next to Tai while scratching a spot behind the pup's ears.

"Actually, I think I've got a name for him."

They all stopped and looked at Tai, who chewed his lip thoughtfully for a second before answering. "Kaze."

The pup in his lap yapped, content with that name, bringing a smile to everyone in the large room.

"Hmm. Wind? I like it." Tenzin nodded in approval at his pupil's choice.

Kaze barked happily as he stood up, wagging his tail. Tai scratched his chin as he stared in wonder at the tough little pup, still astounded that he had recovered so quickly after the boy found him during the blizzard.

As the little wolf turned, Bolin noticed something strange, and he glanced at Tai. "Huh. He's got something on his side, some kind of… swirly thing?"

Tai arched his eyebrow as he lifted Kaze into the air, turning him around to look at what Bolin was talking about. There it was. On his side was a series of strange swirls of lighter colored fur, standing out compared to the dark grey of the rest of Kaze's body. "That _is _odd." He murmured, turning him around to show everyone in the room.

Almost everyone had looks of confusion on them, except for Tenzin, who rubbed his beard thoughtfully for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. "Oh my word… He's a Spirit Wolf."

"A what?" Tai asked, staring at the strange little patterns on Kaze's sides as the little guy kept licking his cheeks.

"Yeah… my uncle taught me about them. They're incredibly rare, and only live in the central plains of the north and south poles. Like where Naga came from." Korra said with a tone of wonder, looking at Kaze like he was some kind of rare treasure.

"So… what do they have to do with spirits?"

Korra shook her head as Jinora walked over with the book in hand. "They migrate to places where the connection to the Spirit World is highest, staying for weeks at a time to bear their young. The old Air Monks called them 'Sems Spyang Ki'."

"Huh. Neat." Tai rubbed Kaze's head before setting him back down on the floor, allowing the pup to race around the room again, being chased by both Ikki and Meelo out the doorway towards where Pema and Rohan were.

He heard the 'happy couple' whispering to each other, with giggles interspersed between their indiscernible plans, most of them were from Korra as she nodded, before realizing that they weren't being subtle at _all_.

She cleared her throat, which unfortunately was a great time for her cheeks to begin burning red. "We're - uh - going out. To places. With stuff." she didn't know that everyone would have been satisfied with her saying only that, so she kept stammering. "You know... New Moon ... umm... attraction- I mean - activities." she winced as Mako dragged her away from the couch, leaving her to keep stammering as he rubbed a hand down his face.

"We'll be back sometime."

"Don't get into trouble." Tenzin sighed, watching the two of them leave with growing apprehension. Mako slid the sliding door across on the far side of the room, waiting for her to step through before he closed it again.

"So... what do you two want to do?" Tai asked, directing his question at Asami and Bolin.

Tenzin and Jinora left the room through the hallway as Bolin stabbed the tips of his index fingers together. "Well, I was kinda hoping Korra would be able to- uh - show us. Stuff. Let's do stuff."

"Helpful." he rolled his eyes and glanced at Asami, hoping she could think of something to do, being incredibly smart and all. He wiggled his eyebrows to get her attention, and the girl jumped a little as she stopped her brooding and intense staring at the wall.

"Oh. Uh. I've actually got some stuff to do. On my own. Bye!" she nodded at the two of them, backing away rather quickly towards the sliding door and slipping through it, leaving the two boys alone in the room.

"And that leaves two." Tai sighed, tipping his head back to stare at a little crack in the light-blue ceiling. His mind moved sluggishly as he thought about what kind of stuff they could do to stave off boredom, and sped up when he remembered what Korra had said.

He hopped off of the couch and slapped Bolin on the shoulder, getting his attention. "We can do stuff! The New Moon festival right? Let's walk around and find something to do!"

Bolin yelped as Tai dragged him off of the couch, and led the way towards the door. He waited for Bolin to stand up and follow him over when the sound of excited yaps and barks bounced towards them from deeper in the manor house. A grey bundle of fur slammed into his ankle, and Kaze yelped as he shook his head, stumbling back onto his haunches and staring up at Tai with big black eyes.

The boy rolled his eyes and nodded, Kaze's tail waved from side to side impossibly fast, and he yapped as Tai slid the door open, letting Bolin and Pabu out first. But before he could race into the cold outside the boy shut the door again, squatting down to get the pup's attention. Kaze whimpered, wanting so desperately to go outside, but his rescuer thought differently and sighed as he patted the pup's head. "Sorry boy. You need to stay inside and recover."

Kaze whined as he sat on his haunches, throwing looks at the closed door behind the boy before deciding that it was for the best. He yapped once, and raced back into the house, leaving Tai free to open the door and head outside.

He should probably be responsible and tell Tenzin where they're going. "We're bouncing! Be back soon bye!" That should have done it, he stepped out into the cold yard, looking in wonder at the boggling amount of lanterns that were strung up above the heads of the people on the sidewalks. What was so strange about them is that they didn't seem to operate with any kind of flame at all, instead a softly glowing cube of water sat in the middle of the curved square boxes, throwing off a cool light onto the streets below.

She was right about one thing. This place was beautiful.

* * *

"That... was shocking. _Shocking_." he teased, rolling his eyes to get in the point that she had failed so epically. Even for a girl who lived in a compound for most of her life, it was still _shocking_.

"Oh yeah? You - uh - your hair!" she poked the side of his head as they walked on the snow-covered - well, more evenly _covered_ than everywhere else - foot path, yet she still held onto his arm, presumably to keep him within range of her vicious poking.

He was almost afraid to ask. "My hair?" A paranoid thought came to him, and he put a hand to his cheek in mock horror. "Wha - what's wrong with _it?_" He suppressed a wicked grin as Korra's eyes softened, and she gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Nothing." she grinned.

That made him grin too, and together the two of them kept their grins as they turned followed the foot path as it curved around a massive igloo structure, leading into a wide street absolutely packed with people, enough that it was impossible for any Satomobiles or cars to move down the road without barging into seaweed noodle stands, ice-throwing ranges, or even the crowds of people watching magnificent displays of waterbending between skilled opponents.

All of this stood in the shadow of a absolutely massive tower stretching up from the focal point of the city's center, and was the brightest building in the city as hundreds upon hundreds of water-lamps hung from each of it's windows, connected to each other by glittering silver connections, all arranged in a concentric swirl that ran up the tower's walls towards the dome that capped it.

Mako couldn't help staring in awe at the magnificent structure, and he felt a shake on his arm that managed to tear his eyes away from that sight, and at the even better sight next to him. "The Moon Tower." he heard her whisper in his ear, right before feeling that familiar burning sensation on his cheeks as she kissed his cheek, getting his attention completely.

He returned it with double the feeling, absolutely loathing the fact it had to be short since they were in public. "It's nice." he whispered back, squeezing her hand as they both began walking down the middle of the main road, weaving past groups of running children, avoiding the questioning stares of old people and generally having a good time just wandering around from place to place.

Although Mako quickly grew uncomfortable with the many stares the two of them drew from young men and boys all over the street, well directed at _her _specifically. Numerous times he found himself throwing quick and dark looks over his shoulder, which worked remarkably well on account of the dark yellow in his eyes. They worked only for a short while, and everywhere they walked there was at least two pairs of eyes watching Korra, and one pair of eyes daring them to try _something_.

Still none of this interrupted their night out, except for when Korra stood rooted to the spot, staring in wonder at two bending artists putting all of their skill into molding a floating sphere of ice. One of them, a thin and tall girl with impossibly beautiful features, used steep and abrupt sweeps and jabs to chip away at and gouge furrows into the ice's surface, slowly chiseling it into a suitably unique shape. Strangely, she was almost as pale as the snow at their feet, and her eyes were a very dark shade of blue, which brought to mind a very uncomfortable resemblance to someone who had hurt his girlfriend terribly in recent months.

Her opponent by contrast was heavyset, his movements ponderous as his two large feet stayed rooted to the spot, only his thick arms moving around in slow circles and arcs, which had the effect of causing different portions of his sphere to cave in towards the center, resulting in slanted grooves running all around the sphere, sometimes twisting into the interior of the ice and appearing out the other end, connecting with another groove and continuing in a perpetually looping pattern that wound it's way across the entire structure.

Mako thought about dragging her away to look at something else, already losing interest in watching waterbenders carve ice sculptures when suddenly a hint of light appeared under the woman's bare hand as she gently laid it on the ice's surface. The light gradually spread throughout the gracefully twisted piece, using the recently carved furrows and sharp facets as highways across the piece, resulting in an faint sheen of silvery light that criss-crossed the outside of the ice, creating a complex and random matrice of silver lines denoting the many edges of the ice.

The audience gasped in awe at her skill, and she bowed.

They gasped again as the sound of someone blowing a raspberry got their attention, and everyone turned towards the heavyset brown-skinned man, laughs rippling across the crowd as he clasped his huge hands behind his back. He took a deep breath and placed a palm on the swirly patterned surface, the crowd stilled and watched him closely as he closed his eyes for a few seconds, not moving at all as the girl across from him scowled.

His eyes flashed open and he rotated his palm on the surface, so that his fingers pointed towards the side of the stage as the ice his fingertips touched glowed softly, but had a strong color to it, a far deeper blue than the girl's. From those five points the light slowly spread throughout the interior of the ice, running along the slanted grooves and the twisted holes that cut from one side to the other.

Korra watched with bated breath as she realized what he was about to do. Katara herself did something similar a couple years ago. She squeezed Mako's arm in her eagerness, leaning into him as the glowing light instantly spread out over the sphere, being the most brilliantly shining when it discovered a groove. The man turned his palm again, and every single visible groove rose above the surface a little, so that soon it appeared more like a piece of coral than an twisted piece of ice.

Even Mako's jaw had dropped a little. That was spectacular, he never really had an appreciation for art, but that was something else. More surprising was that Korra seemed to be really interested in the sculpture, and he wondered if she liked art. Suddenly a brief flicker of doubt went through his head.

How much did he really know about her?

He quickly stamped down on those doubts, not wanting to over-think anything at all, not tonight, when it should all be so simple. He was brought out his thoughts when she squeezed his arm again, which made him smile gently as he glanced at her.

But she was already fixated on the stage, the crowd as well as the heavyset man stepped back from his work, grinning inanely. In stark contrast the girl merely bowed her head, waiting expectantly for the crowd's reaction. Everyone clapped, almost equally directed towards both of them as people cheered and shouted their approval.

Both of them smiled and nodded, and began to launch into another flurry of artistic inspiration.

The firebender rolled his eyes as he dragged her away from the stage, wading through the sea of water tribers while trying to not let their questioning looks get to him. He tried not to dwell on the fact that their looks grew cold and hard when they focused on him, yet on Korra they relaxed and looked happier. He shrugged those thoughts away, he was a foreigner, of _course_ they would be like that. He hoped. He really did.

The pressure on his arm was gone as the girl finally managed to tear her gaze away from the spectacle they left behind, and had the same dreamy expression as she looked at him instead, leaning her head on his shoulder as their walking slowed down.

The gates of the city yawned in front of them, open and admitting a slow but steady stream of people and the occasional animal in from the cold winds outside the town, which as Korra pointed out to him were being partially redirected by waterbenders on top of the wall's ramparts, of course they couldn't completely redirect it, as that would require them to be able to move the air itself, and people who can do that are quite rare.

He arched an eyebrow as she steered him up a nearby flight of stairs carved out of the edge of a large ice cylinder, keeping it on as she pushed him up the steps. As soon as he stumbled onto the topmost of them he realized why. He was nudged a little, and his foot avoided stomping down on a delicate flower. It's silvery petals were only unfurled halfway, ringing a blue core of pollen that seemed to be... moving?

The firebender squatted to take a closer look, trying to believe his eyes as they told him what they were seeing. He felt her hand on his as he watched her sit on her knees. "'Tat Nanan', Sifu Katara calls them. Nowadays they're just Moon Dancers." she explained, before planting a kiss on his cheek and straightening, leading the hopelessly entranced boy over to the finely carved bench nearby, sitting under the shadow of a large tree, which was stout and healthy even though it stood on one of the coldest places on Earth.

He smiled at her, watching the moon's growing light catch in her eyes with fascination as he leaned closer towards the girl. Not for the first time has he wondered how he was lucky enough to have her.

Although the moon's light disappeared from her eyes as she suddenly looked to the side, narrowing her eyes like she caught the end of something moving out of sight.

"Korra? You okay?"

* * *

"Care for a necklace?"

Asami stopped for a moment, her focused look diminishing into strained cheer as she turned towards a blue colored stall nearby, sandwiched in between a larger tent colored a lighter shade of blue, and a cart full of cheap wooden toys with tiny glints of metal visible underneath them, betraying the presence of the more modern ones.

The owner of the little blue stall, smiled lazily at Asami, resting her chin on her knuckles as she leaned over the stall's counter, her striking blue eyes still holding a youthful light to them in almost stark contrast to her silvery hair, which only served to enhance the energetic nature of the middle-aged woman.

She walked towards the counter, slightly bewildered by the amount of necklaces and beads hanging from the roof of the stall. "Oh. Handmade?" she asked, peering at one that had carvings of different animals on the face of each polished ball.

"Mhm. Thought I should do something for the festival while waiting for my brother and his family." the woman answered with a cat-like grin.

There was something familiar about the woman. Now that Asami had come closer, she could see that she looked very similar to a photo of lady Katara in her middle age. It hit her, the image of a horribly burned woman in the mansion's study, lying among shattered glass and broken tables as crying little girl and her unresponsive father knelt nearby, across from a brown-skinned woman with silver streaks in her brown hair, trying desperately to keep her patient alive long enough for the ambulance to arrive.

"Kya?" Asami whispered.

"Hey, kid." she answered back with a slightly guarded smile, presumably having the same images running through her head as well, her smile eased up as she chuckled. "Spirits, I haven't seen you in years! You've grown so much! How's your dad?" The girl hesitated, and Kya quickly picked up on it. "What's up?"

"He's - uh -" She sighed as she leant forwards over the counter. "In prison."

Kya couldn't hide the relieved note in her voice, especially since she had immediately jumped to the worst conclusion. "Oh. _Oh._ Mind if I ask why?"

"Equalist." the girl muttered, clearly wanting to get off of the topic. She had a smile on her in a flash, and was busying herself with staring at the imperfections and curves visible in the little beads. "These are beautiful, Kya!"

"Hey, Asami. How's Korra doing?" the middle-aged woman's voice lost some of it's cheer as she asked the question, replacing it with concern.

The girl looked down at the snow-covered footpath for a moment before answering. "She's good. I think she's adjusting to what happened to her. Being with Mako is actually hel-" she caught herself before she could say something incriminating, but Kya was already on the case.

"A boy, _eh?_ Someone who's man enough for Korra, _eh?_ Do _tell._" Kya grinned evilly as Asami cursed her big mouth.

But the young woman relented, and was eager to get onto another topic apart from Korra's loss and her own problems. "He's a pro-bender. Captain of the Fire-Ferrets. Broods a lot. even when we we-" she squeaked in alarm and clamped a hand over her mouth, making Kya burst out in laughter.

"Oh no, seriously? Your _ex_? He must be really good." she giggled, getting a rise out of Asami, who folded her arms and turned her head to the side, using the haughty movement her mom taught her to use.

"Actually, he's quite thick." the girl corrected before sighing. "Handsome. But thick."

"Really? I feel for you, sweetheart. You'll get over him." Asami sighed again as Kya said that. She was still _very_ perceptive. She would have been fine just talking with her for a few more minutes, but she looked at at a clock nearby, and realized that her business contact would most likely be at the restaurant now.

"I have to go. It was great seeing you, Kya." Asami said, leaning over to hug her before leaving down the footpath, heading closer and closer to the massive tower that soared over the city.

Her thoughts turned to dark places as she made her way down the street, they kept going back to that night when she was six, and she couldn't get them to go anywhere else. She could hardly believe it had been twelve years since she had last seen Kya before she disappeared without a trace.

She was torn out of her thoughts when she turned a corner into a well-lit street, almost completely cleaned of any snowfall which consequently meant that the massive building that took up one side of it was surrounded by blue and teal painted satomobiles. All were variants of the luxury edition, custom grilles, custom tires, custom _everything_.

The building itself was luxury as well. The walls were made of high quality wood flatboards, most likely oak or mahogany from the Earth Kingdom. But the architecture was unique onto itself, copying the terraced roofs of the Northern Water Tribe manors with the curved walls of Southern Water Tribe igloos.

All in all, it was a beautiful looking abomination.

She walked towards it, sticking her hands in her parka's pockets, not noticing that in the main street behind her, a pair of grey eyes and a pair of green eyes were watching her every move.

* * *

"You don't think this is creepy?" he asked the airbender.

Tai rolled his eyes as he peered at the impossibly posh restaurant. "Nope. I'm bored and people hitting ice is not my idea of fun."

"Do you actually have fun?" The little ferret hidden under his collar chittered in response, which sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"Well. There she goes." Tai muttered, watching as Asami walked into the restaurant, disappearing behind a wall in front of which a gaggle of rich girls chatted to one another.

Without warning Bolin he stood up, walking out from behind the empty cart to step off of the footpath. Bolin followed him across, nervously poking his fingers again, even though they had about as much chance at getting seen by her as getting seen by her from the other side of a wall.

The airbender stopped by the street corner, leaning on the wall as he stared at the well-lit restuaruant. "So, what do you think?"

"Could be what she said to us before." he answered, scratching Pabu under the chin as he stood next to Tai. He glanced past him, looking down the street at someone who was walking noticeably faster than everyone else.

"Really. Bolin." his smirk was awry as he looked at him. "Actually, maybe you're right. At least we know where she is-" It faded when he noticed that Bolin was looking away from him, completely focused on something or someone coming down the main road. "Whats-" His question died away when he noticed that stars seemed to have taken root in Bolin's eyes, and he seemed to be swaying as if he wasn't fully there.

Only one person could have had this effect on him. "Hey, is Korra-" He stopped himself, and swiped a hand in front of Bolin's face to get any kind of reaction out of him.

He heard hurried footsteps coming closer, and he peered around Bolin to see a girl, with strikingly similar eyes to Korra collide with Bolin's chest. They both fell over, with the girl slowly recovering. With a arched eyebrow she realised she was lying on top of Bolin, who smiled lazily at her, his green eyes glittering with a strange glow.

"Is there something wrong with my face?" Tai arched an eyebrow at what she just said, while Bolin kept the same dreamy outlook. She looked okay, in fact she looked fairly cute. Of course, that was just his opinion.

The girl had directed her question at the starstruck earthbender below her, who quickly reddened when he realised that more than five seconds of silence had come out of his mouth. Pabu took this time to poke his head out of the boy's collar and yawn, tiltiing his head at the new arrival. After about two seconds of judging he squeaked and nuzzled her cheek. The girl tilted her head and cautiously scratched the ferret's head, her eyebrow still raised.

Bolin squeaked again as the earth began to rumble around them. Tai stumbled and braced himself against the wall, readying himself for whatever was coming. Immediately thoughts of his sword came to mind, and he wished he had with him to face down something this si-

His thoughts were interrupted when a patch of the road nearby erupted upwards, rising several meters into the air until it towered above the buildings and igloos lining the street. That in itself was strange, but what was even stranger was the fact that Bolin's cheeks now had a permanent tinge of bright red to them. He chuckled nervously as the girl rolled off of him, dusting herself off as she stood before the two of them, and bowed.

"My name is Kirima. I am the princess of the Northern Water Tribe, and I would appreciate it if you do not tell anyone I am here." The girl's tone was impossibly cold and her words formal, betraying no sign of having just embarrassed a adolescent earthbender in public. She shook her head, as if she realized something had slipped from her mind. "I apologize. What are your names?"

"I'm Tai." The girl nodded, before turning to stare at Bolin.

"B-Bolin." he squeaked, getting another arched eyebrow from the girl.

"Bolin. That's a nice name." she said without any tone or inflection.

He reddened again. "Ki-K- Kirima is as well!" Suddenly all of the color drained from his face. "Wa- Princess?!" he blurted out, causing Kirima's other eyebrow to rise as well while she nodded slowly, possibly thinking he was slow in the head.

"Yes. My father is Chief Unalaq. And my brother is named Desna." she explained.

"Royalty huh? Seems a bit... backwards." Tai said with all honesty and bluntness. In a lot of the books his mom read to him, kings and queens always seemed to make a lot of problems for everyone else.

"Actually I and Desna only have authority in spiritual or cultural matters. In all other regards, my father convenes with the council over all matters." she held up her index finger for a second, before bringing it back down as she waited patiently for any further questions.

"Wait. Why are you here on your own?" Bolin asked, evidently over his initial shock and infatuation.

Kirima hesitated for a moment, as the wind gradually increased in intensity and speed, ruining any chances of them knowing why she was on the other side of the world from her own tribe. The strength of the wind spiked for a moment, and nearly sent her stumbling into the wall nearby. Bolin shot forward and grabbed her hand as Tai spotted a group of people running towards them, weaving in between panicking tourists and residents experienced enough to start heading inside.

* * *

_The Clearwater Restaurant._

She dug around in her pocket, stopping by a wooden support column, painted a deep blue and engraved with images of swirling water and depictions of the moon in different phases. Her fingers latched onto the chain of her pocket-watch and she dragged it out, resting the little brass object in the palm of her hand. She pressed down on the catch between the two halves, and the top sprang open.

Her eyes softened as they fell on the torn and battered photo of her family, back when everything was relatively normal for her. She took note of the time, and sighed. Why was the idiot always late?

Stupid billionaire playboy philanthropists.

Asami found herself looking out through the window nearby, and thought she saw Tai and Bolin move across the main road, throwing none too subtle glances in the restaurants direction. She grinned to herself as something rattled the windows, spooking a few of the patrons and stalling their conversations into fearful whispers. She moved towards the headwaiter, who was holding onto the little stand in front of him as tight as he could.

She smiled as she approached. "Table for two." she said, the man nodded and guided her to a booth near the wall. "Thanks."

He still hadn't shown up by the time she sat down on one of booth seats. Drumming her fingers on the table in barely concealed impatient, she laid her head on the table just as a waiter came to her. "What can I get you?" the woman asked pleasantly.

"I'll wait until my associate arrives."

The waiter nodded and left her to wait. It seemed to have taken forever before the door slammed open, and the giggles of young girls carried to Asami, who raised her head and parted her hair to see who the new arrival was.

A young man, a thin moustache that was all the rage these days sat on his lip, and the fire nation girl holding onto one of his arms seemed to take an almost incredible amount of fun in stroking it, giggling the whole time. Occasionally her attempts to brush the two neat little strips of hair were thwarted by the hand of the other girl, who batted her pleasantly toned brown eyes at him, constantly whispering sweet nothings in his ear the entire time.

The young man took it all in stride, and even though the wind had already picked up outside, his hair seemed to stay perfectly still. Asami spitefully reckoned it may have been immersed in a vat of whale blubber gel three hours every morning. Then again she was a little biased against the guy.

"Ms Sato. I apologize for my late arrival, a - uh - blizzard snowed us in during the firing tests a day ago." his smile was earnest, at least to himself, which meant that Asami didn't buy it.

Although she was experienced enough in matters of business to keep a professional front, even in the other party _didn't_. "Verick. If you are finished, I would like to offer my proposal."

"Alrighty then." the two girls giggled as they sat down on either side of him, annoying Asami a little as they kept tossing sidelong glances at her before whispering in Verick's ears. To his credit though, the young man kept focused on the young woman in front of him. "You have my full attention, ms Sato."

Asami nodded. "As you may well know-" she couldn't stop the quiet sigh that escaped her, "- A month ago, a well armed and experienced terrorist group calling themselves _Equalists_-" she had a lot of trouble just saying the word. She calmed herself down before the thoughts of anger and loss overwhelmed her, even though she hated the guy sitting across from her, she appreciated that he was considerate enough to wait for her to be ready.

She was ready to continue again when one of the girls, the fire nation one, interrupted her with a incredulous look. "Wait- are you an equalist?"

"What."

"Your father is an equalist, aren't you one as well?" the dumb girl continued, not noticing Verick's repeated facepalms or glares.

He was about ready to cut her off when Asami's hands clenched into fists underneath the table. "That- no!" she snapped, preparing to tear into the ignorant _bender_ when Verick cut her off.

"Saila, she is not a equalist." he slowly explained while subtly extracting himself from her grip. "Hey- how about you two freshen up?" he smiled at the two of them and jerked his pointy chin towards a pair of doors on the other side of the restaurant. Reluctantly they both nodded, leaving him and the young heiress behind.

Verick smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that, Asami."

Even though she should have been hating him for specifically being _Verick_, she appreciated his support. "Thank you. It's still a bit hard to process."

"Been in a similar situation myself. Now how can I help you?"

She took a deep breath in preparation for her risky proposal that even the most insane of businessmen wouldn't consider. "Now that FutureTech has seen a... change of leadership... on behalf of my company, I would like to propose a few expansions to our partnership that would be lucrative for both companies."

He chuckled. "You don't need to give me the pitch, okay? I'm more than happy to oblige, your research fella's are fantastic at their jobs! Without their help, my pride and joy wouldn't have seen the light of day."

For the first time in recent months she felt nothing but relief and happiness, at the thought that one of the largest problems on the horizon had already been take care of. Of course they still would have to iron out the details but of course-

"Unfortunately, my father has asked me to ask but one request. If he were to agree to this, he wants at least one representative from Tui industries involved in the loop." Verick shifted uncomfortably for a bit, and Asami felt she knew the reason why. "Specifically he meant me."

"I know we haven't seen eye to eye in the past, but as the new CEO of FutureTech I accept his proposal." her smile put him at ease again.

He clapped his hands. "Excellent! I'm glad we came to an agreement so quickly! Now, have you ordered anything?"

She shook her her head. "The waiter should be coming around soon. But now that you mention it, I am _starving._"

"As my first request as representative to your esteemed company ms Sato, I would like you to take the tab."

"Verick."

"Fine."

The sigh that came out of her was good-natured as she wondered where the waiter was. She heard a keening noise coming from outside, and as she leant forwards to look at one of the windows, she was met with an almost soup-like white wind, it's roar was muffled by the walls of the restaurant, but she wasn't so sure that it would be beaten so easily. "Another freak blizzard." Verick commented.

It was at that point that she noticed a slight brown-skinned girl running past one of the windows, being led along by Bolin and Tai as a group of men ran them down into the alley next to the restaurant.

Trouble.

* * *

氷


	3. Chilling Winds

氷

* * *

Something was nearby.

He leaned towards Korra, gently shaking her shoulder to get her attention onto him. But it had no effect, and she was still staring at a space in the air above their heads, as if some kind of presence was floating there. He tried another tactic, a time honored one that always got her full attention onto him.

She was as still as a statue as he kissed the side of her neck, with every faith in the fact that it would get a response out of her.

It did, and he was confused when she angrily hissed and punched him in the shoulder. "Stop it! Don't you see them?"

The firebender regained his composure as he leaned back towards her, now very concerned. "There's... no-one there, Korra." he said carefully, a bit wary of the way she was acting towards him. In general, actually.

A sudden rush of wind rustled his sleeve, and for a moment he thought he could hear a whisper being dragged along with it. He ignored the strange occurrence, putting all of his priorities on calming her down. He reached a hand towards her, but she stood up, standing stock still as she looked around with narrowed eyes and took a few steps towards the tree.

"Kor-" he stopped for a moment as a keening noise rose, setting his teeth on edge as the wind gradually picked up, constantly rustling his outer layers of clothing and whipping the tail of his scarf around.

All of a sudden she ran towards the edge of the raised garden, preparing to leap forwards into the empty space around them, quickly he began to chase after her, ready to pull her back from doing something stupid when she brought herself to a halt, breathing heavily as she tracked something moving through the air over the main road, settling on the wide and open space just outside Inna's gates.

She tried to push past him to get to the stairs, but he wouldn't budge. He grabbed her shoulders as she tried to get through him, not noticing the very worried look he was giving her. "Korra, what's wrong?" His tone was forceful, and it succeeded in getting her to stop for at least one second, shamefully she averted catching his eyes.

"Mako. There are _spirits _here." He blinked twice, trying to process what she just said. Spirits? From the old stories?

But she wasn't finished. "There's something wrong with them. I think they're... corrupted." She noticed the blank look on him, and scowled. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Quickly he shook his head. "I do... it's just... I can't see them, I don't even-"

She shut him up with a quick kiss and a smile. "I can't do much right now, I need your help." It took her a lot to say those words, and Mako didn't even hesitate with his answer.

"Alright." he squeezed her shoulder to get a smile out of her, before they ran down the steps, being slowed a little by the gradually worsening winds, which were beginning to blanket the entire city under a heavy coating of snow and rain. He was grateful for the parka, and wanted to thank her mother the next time they came back here.

The two of them made a beeline for the tall pair of gates ahead, which separated the city from the fighting going on just outside. Mako was certain he saw whips of water and blades of ice being thrown around, and a niggling thought crept into his mind. Why couldn't _he_ see them?

He shook the thoughts away, not wanting them to drag him down as he followed Korra through the gates, keeping a hand over his eyes to stop the snow from getting into them. The only thing he could hear out here was the sounds of exertion from the group of water benders nearby, launching ice missiles and tendrils at random spots in the air, which as he watched closely, seemed to shimmer and wave around a little.

"Look out!" he heard Korra shout to him. He was too slow in taking a step back, so Korra roughly grabbed his collar and pushed him to the snow, just as something unbelievably huge shuddered through the space he just occupied. In it's passing it left a cold pit in his stomach, and he felt a little nauseous for a few seconds, his head spinning as whispers once again talked to him.

The physical act of standing made his head spin even worse, and he stumbled forwards as he watched Korra run towards the group of waterbenders, anger in her movements as she blasted small gusts of wind around herself, ducking and dodging as large drifts of snow were thrown up at her feet. He was anxious to run to her aid when he saw a trail of snow being disturbed as something rushed towards him. He waited a few agonizing seconds, and ignored the sharp needles of pain in his head as he threw himself to the side, quickly recovering and running towards Korra.

"Tell me where to point!"

She hesitated, looking at him with worry for a few seconds before nodding. She pointed out a spot near the gates, and immediately he summoned balls of fire in his hands, sending them rocketing towards the empty space. He thought he had missed whatever it was when a ear-shattering scream reverberated throughout the entire area, and curls of smoke heavy with the smell of burnt flesh lifted away from a rapidly moving presence.

He lost his breath as something heavy slammed into his front, sending him tumbling through the snow a long way from Korra. There was fear in her eyes now. Fear for him as she ran forward, blasting several punches and kicks of air at the space above the firebender.

His eyes widened as something slammed into her side, sending her tumbling into the snow for a moment before she managed to recover, using a gust of wind to steady herself. She growled and twirled to the side, manipulating the air to speed up her movements to dodge away from the invisible creature.

The creature roared again, and the horrible noise sent a spike of white-hot pain lancing through his skull once again, destroying any coherent thought for a few seconds as he curled up in the snow to present a smaller target, his arms flared and he ran the risk of burning his clothes as unimaginable heat flowed down them, forming large streams of fire that whirled around him as a barrier, melting the snow beneath Mako into slurry and dampening his clothes as he lost control over the fire. He sensed something moving towards him, and instinct made him lash out. A portion of the whirling stream snapped out, and he heard a cry that chilled him to the core.

All concern for himself burned away as he straightened and ran towards Korra, who hissed with pain as she threw herself away from another pass by the creature. He reached a hand towards her, but on instinct the girl recoiled for a second, before shooting forward and grabbing his collar. The breath was taken out of him as she flipped him away from her and into the snow near the walls, just in time for a stream of air above her to shimmer and wave as the creature passed by overhead.

His head spun, and all thoughts of fighting that thing were forgotten in favor of focusing on that look of fear she had when he reached for her. The boy sat up in the snow, a blank look on him as the avatar continued to fight a losing battle against the creature, which was barely held in check by the group of waterbenders that had jumped back into the fray to assist her.

Another roar, and another spike of pain as he looked around for the source, eyes widening as he realized that the _second creature _had arrived. He took a step forward before stopping himself. He couldn't do anything, he'd just get in the way and hurt her again.

Mako decided to do something about it, even if his pride was going to be damaged because of it. He waited a few seconds while he looked for any traces of the creature's passage, before he sprinted back to her side.

"Korra! I'll get Tenzin and the others!" he shouted over the rising winds, she nodded, and as he turned to go she gave him a quick kiss.

"Be careful!" she locked her eyes with his for a few seconds, before turning around to kick a large mass of spiraling wind at one of the invisible presences.

* * *

"Who are these guys?" Bolin skidded around a corner as he followed the girl down the street, while Tai trailed behind the two of them, firing off blasts of air to ward off their mysterious pursuers. He grunted as his arm slammed into the side of something half-hidden in the roaring winds and snow, and someone stumbled into his shoulder with a alarmed yelp.

He tensed in preparation for a fight, but fortunately it was just a frightened local, who ran away from the boy and disappeared into the ever thickening fog, which further constricted his view of the street. He waved his fingers, and the air around him immediately cleared up, and he spotted Bolin and Kirima running into a alley nearby, sandwiched in between a lit-up storefront and the extravagant restaurant Asami went into.

Tai took a step forward when something slammed in-between his shoulder blades, he hissed as he stumbled forwards, his vision blurring as he whipped his head around, trying to spot whatever had hit him. This time it wasn't a local, but a large and well-built man whose hands appeared to be covered in rocks, making them look absolutely huge and heavy. But the man didn't appear to be weighed down by them, and the boy realized why when he extended an arm towards the boy, the rock covering his hand flew forwards with incredible speed, and Tai was too slow to dodge as it slammed into his sternum. The breath was taken out of him as he was sent spinning into the side of a half-obscured car.

The boy recovered as best he could, and ducked as the man sent the other rock fist flying towards the car, denting the thin metal magnificently and sending the car sliding a few centimeters.

He thought it best not to stop moving, and immediately he broke into a sprint, weaving in between more and more fists as he slowly got closer and closer to the earthbender, suddenly the man changed tactics, and stomped down on the ground, the thin covering of ice over the street cracked and shattered as a large patch of earth rocketed out of it, and curved towards the boy from the side, nearly reaching him in less than a second.

The boy waited for a heartbeat, before twirling around it with incredible agility, using the air to speed up his passage. He stumbled as he came to a halt, but didn't stay there as he vaulted over the curved column, gathering a ball of super-pressurized air in his palm.

His opponent responded with a smirk, and both of his rock fists flew forwards, covering the few meters between them in a second. The boy dropped to the ground as fast as he could, and he pushed himself forwards with an jetstream, clearing the distance in less than a second, he swept his leg in a wide arc at the man's boot-clad feet, who responded by stomping down again, a blinding shock of pain struck through him as he was slammed upwards into the air, scattering his thoughts and leaving nothing but aches.

He pushed it down, and twisted around so that his entire body pointed towards the earthbender below. Despite the fact that he was on the losing end of this fight, a smirk played on his lips. He was in his element. The boy wrapped his arms around himself and twirled into a spin, forming a maelstrom of air around his body that ended at a tip above his head. The noise was deafening, and he could hardly anything at all as he shot towards his opponent, who stood his ground as he sent both rock fists flying at the boy.

They shattered as soon as they came into contact with the ultra-fast mass of spinning wind, and the man took a step backwards in preparation to run, but he wasn't fast enough. He cried out with a deep voice as the drill-shaped mass slammed into his chest, sending him flying down the main street and disappearing into the heavy snows and winds that battered the less-covered area.

A flash of a memory came to the boy's mind as he recognized the water bending assassin. He didn't stick around to trade pleasantries, instead turning to head into the alley where the others ran. He kept using his fingers to manipulate a small clear pocket of air as he ran across the street towards the restaurant.

A cube of earth shot out of the alley's mouth towards him, and quickly he twisted to avoid it, letting the building on the other side of the street take the hit for him. He put his back to the wall of the restaurant and moved towards the corner, peering at the back of a trio of wildly-dressed men, one of which sighed as he toppled backwards, his teeth broken and his eyes closed from the knockout.

One of the pair left standing peered down at his fallen comrade, not even shivering even though he wore a simple leather jerkin, and seemed to shrug off the cold winds that blew into his back, which was trying and failing to topple his massively built frame. A thin man next to him stumbled as something struck him in the chest, but managed to recover and run forwards a few meters, only to be beaten back by the lash of a thickly built water whip.

Tai took that as his chance to move forward, he threw his hands out, and the air trapped beneath the snow piled along the alley's walls erupted upwards, sending the snow into a cloud that floated over the heads of the pair of mysterious men. The distraction only worked on the massively built one, who looked up at the falling white powder, giving the airbender an opening. He concentrated on the section of space between the man's upturned face and the falling snow and took a deep breath. He released it, and swung his hand in a downward arc that ended at that point.

The snow suddenly rushed down with violent speed into the man's face and mouth, making him cough and sputter as Tai ran forwards, a ball of pressurized air in both outstretched palms. The man was still coughing and sputtering as the boy edged closer and closer, not noticing that he had slipped around his side. As the man finally managed to clear the snow from his mouth and eyes he looked down, seeing a pair of spheres being shoved into his chest.

Both of their outer layers split open to release the gales contained within them, the fury and force of the incredibly powerful winds sent the large man flying back into the side street with a short grunt.

He saw Bolin as he took a step forward and pushed his palm upwards, calling a column of earth to punch out of the ground in front of him and rocket towards the thin man, who yelped as it struck him in the face, sending him sliding past the airbender and out into the street after his partner, the earthbender turned around and held out his hand to Kirima, who accepted it without any complaint as he helped her up.

As he walked towards the two of them he stepped over the unconscious man. He kicked a blast of air at his side, gently pushing him out towards the opening to the street. Tai frowned, noticing that Kirima was limping, forcing her to lean on Bolin for support and balance. "What's wrong?" The boy thought that questions about who these men were could come later, especially since he was addressing a princess.

"I have... a condition... that is exacerbated by any bending I do." She gasped a little and swayed for a moment, holding onto Bolin's collar to keep upright. He and Tai exchanged looks of concern as she shook her head, and nodded resolutely.

"Can someone heal you? Maybe lady Katara?" Bolin asked gently, he sagged a little after mentioning her, images of a devastated and hurting Korra bringing his thoughts to some other place, and some other people. He shook them away, concentrating on the girl who needed his help. "She's the best healer around!"

"Healed me after I was bloodbent." Tai added, getting a slightly sympathetic look from her in the process without meaning to.

"I- I've already been taken to her." The girl sighed. "This is something that can not be healed."

"Is there a place we can to where they won't find us?" the airbender was staring into the further depths of the alley, which connected at several points to others, forming a warren of paths and shortcuts between the block of buildings.

"I do not know. I am not familiar with this city." the girl swayed again, and Bolin quickly shifted to give her more room to lean on. She gave him a small nod, which made him smile and his cheeks tinge red. In response to the boy's movement, his collar shifted and moved as Pabu's head popped out from under it.

Something ran through his head for a moment before he chittered and moved out of his warm sleeping place, hopping from Bolin's shoulder and onto her head, before sliding down onto her shoulder and wrapping himself around her neck. "What is his name?"

"Pabu." he said immediately, causing the ferret to squeak in response.

"We should get moving. We'll go back to the house, Tenzin will know what to do."

Bolin nodded as Tai moved past him, leading the way further into the alley when he stopped, looking like he had been frozen to the spot. "Hey, what's up-"

An ear-splitting noise, tortured and pain-filled drowned out any possibility of talking. A lance of pain shot through Bolin's head as his vision swam, Kirima cried out and her face paled as the haunting noise pained her considerably. He gritted his teeth as he wrapped his arms around Kirima to stop her from falling to the ground, and he screwed his eyes shut in a bid to stop his head from splitting open from within.

Tai couldn't believe his eyes as he watched a large and shadowy stream float over the top of the buildings around them, heading in the city gate's direction as it unleashed another piercing cry. His mind failed to work as whispers from an unknown voice took root, and for a horrifying moment he thought he was lost in a black void, unable to see or hear or even _think_.

But slowly his mind recovered, and he was brought back to the present as whatever that thing was had fully passed over them, disappearing from their sight completely as the constantly whipping snow enveloped the strange presence. He breathed a sigh of relief unknowingly and noticed that Kirima was shivering uncontrollably. Slowly Bolin opened his eyes, and they filled with alarm as he saw that her eyes were closed.

Quickly he rubbed her back and sides, trying to get warmth into her. She opened her eyes again and looked at Bolin. "I am alright." she said, completely falling short of convincing any of the two boys. Bolin looked like he was about to faint before nodding slowly.

They reached the first junction, and at the end of the alley to their right was one of the city's main roads, completely obscured from view by a white haze of keening wind and snow. Tai stopped for a moment and looked at the ground before moving towards the main road, putting a bit more weight in his steps as the wind began to pick up in ferocity and strength.

Once he was standing on the threshold of the alley, only a few steps away from being completely lost from view, he raised both of his arms and threw them forwards with palms splayed out. He exhaled a few times to concentrate and clear his mind.

He gritted his teeth as the section of street stretching from him to the opposite side of the road began to clear up, as the wind carrying the snow was barred from flowing through, being forced to go over the tops of the buildings. He wouldn't be able to keep up the air tunnel for long. "Okay. Get to going." he ordered, with the tone of someone definitely not looking for any discussion over the matter.

Bolin shifted his shoulder again to allow extra room for Kirima, who was now leaning on him as he walked past Tai, trying to ignore the maelstrom whipping about only a few meters away on either side. He stopped as he noticed Tai wasn't moving with him. "Aren't you coming?"

"I move and the tunnel closes up, those men will be coming through here at any time and they need to be distracted. Asami's still back there as well." the boy explained, having trouble keeping up his words as the strain of holding back part of a blizzard began to affect him.

"Wait, Tai. Before, you saw it as well. Didn't you?" He could barely hear her words, but he nodded.

"I did." The boy said before his mouth set back into a determined line. "Now, get going!"

The earthbender nodded, and didn't look back while making his way across the street, moving as fast as possible until reaching the cover of the opposite alley. Tai watched them disappear around a corner before letting the tunnel collapse, and was left swaying for a second as he recovered from the difficult technique.

A few seconds later his head had cleared up a little and his limbs felt lighter. He walked back into the alleyway, turning the corner to see a bunch of unconscious men and women, all dressed in varying degrees of armor with the color grey somewhere on their bodies. He stood still for a moment while registering the sound of running feet, as Asami and some water tribe guy with a fetching mustache ran towards him.

He leaned on the wall for support as he gave her a weak wave. "Hey-" he surely would have said more, but right now all that came to his mind was curling up in a warm place and falling asleep.

Asami shot forward and grabbed the boy's shoulders to stop him from slipping onto the ground. "Whoa, are you okay?"

Once again he tried to giver her a weak wave, but it was a lot of effort just trying to straighten all of his fingers, so he settled for a thumbs up instead. "Peachy." he murmured, glancing past her at the impeccably attired young man. "Moving on already?" he teased, his chuckling coming out as a series of coughs.

"I'd offer my hand, but you seem a bit out of it. I'm Verick." He scratched the back of his neck as he let a frying pan slip to the ground from his other hand, walking forwards to lend his support in helping Tai stand.

"Where did Bolin and that girl go?" she asked, glancing at Verick while doing so.

"Kirima. Her name is Kirima."

Verick glanced at the boy, almost doing a double take. "Are you certain?" he asked, prompting Asami to look him with an arched eyebrow.

The boy nodded. "Yeah."

"She's a long way from home-"

"Verick. Who is she?" Asami cut in, getting increasingly confused.

"She's the princess of the Northern Water Tribe." he answered frankly, letting the bewildered look settle on Asami for a few seconds before continuing on. "That explains the people going after her."

Tai extracted himself from their grip and took a deep breath as he stood up straight. "We need to get across the street, they're going to the manor house."

"Well, neither of us are benders buddy." Verick shrugged.

"Don't worry. I'm a airbender."

"Oh. That's cool."

"I know."

He led the two of them around the corner, having to constantly divert the wind as he got closer to the streetside to compensate for his recovering strength. Once he was at the threshold to the street again, he had to make an effort just throw his arms forwards like before, once he did that he splayed out his palms again, and exhaled a few times, feeling a little light-headed for a few seconds as he tried to summon up the energy to do this.

The boy exhaled and shifted the roaring winds out of the space directly across from them, forcing it to rush over the top of the buildings again. He gritted his teeth as Asami placed a hand on his shoulder, he shook his head and moved forwards into the cleared air, slowly leading them across the street.

It was eerily quiet, the entire road was devoid of any human presence except for the sound of far-off fighting near where the creature had flown off to. In that direction was a warm glow that was steadily moving closer towards the boy, fortunately the other side of the street was getting closer, and Tai picked up the pace a little as his air tunnel began to contract against the strength of the blizzard, not wanting to fight both more mercanaries and the blizzard.

As soon as Verick and Asami had made it into the alleyway he lowered his hands, and drew in large gasps of air as he ran into the sheltered area, just as the winds began to flow freely through the street again.

* * *

Mako gritted his teeth as the flames over both hands began to sputter and flicker, being beaten down by the roaring winds and damp snow constantly whipping around. He trudged through the deepening snow covering the main road, using the glowing blue light at the top of the Moon Tower as a guide to keep going in the right direction.

After a few numbing minutes of this, he heard a noise up ahead, and noticed that the wind seemed to be flowing over a segment of the street. He moved a bit quicker now, every second a precious one as the cold continued to bite at him while the wind tried to knock him around. But the firebender soldiered on through the raging blizzard, slowly making his way down the main road. He recognized the stage the two waterbenders performed on, which was close to the side street the manor house stood on.

The wind died down as he rounded the corner, slowly lessening to a fierce gale that continued to whip his scarf around, but was much more manageable than the maelstrom on the main street.

Luckily, he memorized the location of the house everyone was staying in, thinking correctly that Korra wouldn't have bothered. It didn't take him long to find the archway that led into the front garden, he ducked through, immediately being greeted by the sound of yapping and scratching from the other side of the sliding door.

Not wasting any time he slid it open, stepping through as a grey mass of fur instantly began trying to wrap himself around the firebender's ankles. "Not now, Kaze!" he grumbled, taking huge steps to compensate for the wolf cub hanging onto his foot, and licking the laces on his boots.

He closed the door behind him as he headed into the hallway, about to turn a corner before running into Pema, who blinked twice as she saw who it was. "Mako? Whe-" She readjusted her grip on Rohan, who laughed happily as he noticed Kaze still wrapped around the boy's foot.

"No time Pema. Where's Tenzin?" he asked brusquely, not realizing that he was speaking at a thousand miles a minute.

She tilted her head while waiting for him to catch himself. After taking a deep breath, which served to squash down the images of Korra alone against those spirits, he started again. "Sorry. Where is Tenzin?" Now that his words were actually separated from each other, she was able to understand.

Pema took a few steps back and pointed down the hallway. "The lounge. This isn't because of the blizzard?" The firebender stopped in his tracks for a moment, not really sure what to say.

"It is." he lied, the wolf pup on his foot yapped suddenly, and began chewing on the cuff of his pants in protest.

As she walked past Mako and towards the closed door nearby, she shook her head. "I have to clean _those,_ Kaze."

Mako turned around the corner and stepped through the open doorway into the lounge, Tenzin was reading a piece of paper, his worried frown the symbol of the calm that was surrounded by Ikki and Meelo's chaotic mayhem. Jinora was sprawled out in an armchair nearby, evidently clutching onto a thick book with white knuckles as she read the story within.

"Tenzin. Where have the others gone?"

He looked up from the message on the telegraph sheet, arching an eyebrow when he noticed it was just Mako standing there. "Out, as you teenagers say." His response was entirely serious, and Mako nearly lost it right there before he noticed that Tenzin was smirking. "After you and Korra left, Asami went with Tai and Bolin, they haven't been back since."

"Oh great." Mako muttered.

"Kaze might know where Tai is. That could lead you to Bolin and Asami." He looked over at Jinora, just in time for her to smile and dive back behind her book. "Of course, you'll need something with his scent on it first." she added, her voice muffled by the thick pages of the large book.

"His socks. They're _everywhere, _he's as bad as Bolin!" Despite what he was saying he was excited, glad that he had a way of finding them quickly. He ran out of the room, going down the hallway and turning towards the staircase, taking the steps two at a time. A alarmed yap drew his attention downward, and he stopped at the top of the staircase to give Kaze time to recover from the constant shaking.

The little pup shook himself as best as he could while still staying around Mako's ankle, and then yawned to show that he had fully recovered.

From here it didn't take long to reach the room the boys were given. When they first arrived, both he and Korra had complained, saying that it wasn't fair to impose such traditions in a modern world, or that there was no point to separating them from each other. Eventually their arguments boiled down to wanting to 'cuddle' and 'hug' as Tenzin chose to hear it.

But the stiff airbender wouldn't budge in his decision, and Mako learned an important fact about Tai. He had a unhealthy _obsession_ with leaving socks everywhere. It was almost on par with Bolin's habit of not cleaning up after himself, which had constantly infuriated him for years already.

He came out of his thoughts as he stepped through the threshold into their room, which was simply furnished, with three beds and three drawers to match them. Much of the rest of the house's rooms were similar, which suited them, since the boat back to Republic City would be down at the docks tomorrow.

Pinching his nose, he bent down and picked up one of Tai's socks, holding it in front of Kaze so he could get a scent off of it. The wolf pup unwrapped himself from the boy's foot, and sniffed for a few moments before yapping excitedly, immediately turning and running out of the room.

Mako followed him down the stairs and into the living room, until Kaze stopped for a moment, yapping at the closed door to the outside, which rattled constantly as the blizzard raged. He picked the little wolf up, keeping him under his parka as he headed back outside towards the streetside. Kaze's snout poked out from under Mako's scarf as he sniffed the air with a bit of difficulty.

The boy kept walking to keep warm, and concentrated on keeping his body temperature steady to ward off the effects of the blizzard as he waited. He was rewarded with a yap as Kaze angled his snout towards a barely noticeable alleyway just across the street. Mako nodded and gave him a scratch as a reward, before dropping his hands to his sides.

That familiar rush of warmth starting it's journey down his arms felt sluggish and dulled, no doubt due to the massively cold winds battering him from every direction. He ceased the flow and the warmth rushed back up so he could try again. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and this time the flow was much more smooth, the warmth spread down his arms again in that familiar sensation, blooming into outright heat as it touched the palms of his hands.

A ball of fire appeared above both of his palms, and the boy reveled in their warmth as he walked across the blanketed street towards the alleyway, being guided by the light they threw onto the snow hanging nearby as well.

Soon enough he disappeared into the alley, following Kaze's nose, but on a roof above their heads a hooded figure watched, and began to follow after the boy rounded the corner to head deeper into the warren of alleyways.

* * *

Bolin slid down the wall, exhausted beyond belief as the cold continued to bite at every part of him possible. He was shivering constantly, and he wasn't sure where he had led them to. He had failed.

The brief thought was extinguished by the girl's murmuring as she lifted her head from his shoulder. "Is it safe yet?"

"Yeah. I think we lost them." he answered quickly, trying to muster up the appearance that he was in control of their situation.

But she was a perceptive one. "We're lost, aren't we?" She managed to eke out a little chuckle, managing to both embarrass the boy for a moment before he started laughing as well.

"Heh. Unfortunately. If we stay here, the others should find us." He said, more or less trying to calm himself down rather than Kirima, who was still the very picture of calm and cool-headedness. "Hopefully." he helpfully added.

"Hopefully. You are such an optimist." She chuckled again, making the boy's cheeks flush red again.

"I think that's one of the great things about me." Bolin puffed out his chest and lifted his chin up, in time for a handful of snow to drop off of the building's piping above and land on his face, making him cough and sputter.

"You are very strange."

"Good strange or bad strange?"

He swore her cheeks flushed a little as she glanced over at him. "Undecided."

"Guys!"

He peered around the corner of the dumpster they sat next to, seeing Tai and Asami running towards them, with someone else trailing behind them, someone familiar. "Ve-Verick!" he gaped, hardly believing that his flamboyant and magnificent best friend had turned up here of all places.

"You look a bit cold, man." The young industrialist walked towards the two of them, and offering both of his hands for them to grab onto. He grunted a little with pulling Bolin up, and didn't even make a sound when he pulled Kirima up, looking at her with respect and dignity. "Princess." he bowed his head, while she nodded in return, swaying a little as she held onto Bolin as tightly as possible.

Bolin glanced over at Tai. "Ready to wind it up again?" The airbender looked over at him, and nodded resolutely, fueled by a desire to get inside where it was warm.

"Asami, do you know the way back?" he asked out of the blue, making her blink in confusion as she slowly nodded.

"Yes. It's not far... what are you doing Tai?"

The boy stood stock still as he peered at the corner of the roof above, seeing the hooded figure returning his gaze, a wickedly curved sword in hand. "We need to _go_." he murmured, getting everyone's attention before nodding up at the mysterious man.

Tai wasn't looking for any arguments as he stepped away from the others a little, still staring up at the rooftop. He glanced at Asami, who nodded her agreement as she took a look at Bolin and Kirima, seeing the state they were both in.

The group clustered around the two exhausted teens, and they headed through the nearby alleyway, Asami and Verick leading as Tai took up the rear, throwing constant looks up at the hooded figure to see what he would do.

He made the mistake of tearing his eyes away from him to check on Bolin and Kirima, and felt a tickle of air move past his ear. He pushed the two of them forwards with a stream of wind, leaving Asami and Verick to help the two of them up as Tai barely managed to twist around the gleaming curved blade slicing through the air, his hands shot forward to blast wind at the hooded figure, who seemed to flicker as he disappeared from that spot, leaving the blast of wind to instead fling about a few sheets of paper on the ground nearby.

A few seconds passed until he was certain the man was gone. He turned to the others and nodded, and they began moving again, preparing to cross the alley's threshold onto the streetside before he felt another flicker of movement nearby. He looked up, seeing the blade slicing towards him again. The clumsy move was easy to dodge, and he weaved out of the way, a ball of air ready in his palm when something heavy slammed into his back, sending him sliding headfirst into the wall.

The others moved as fast as they waited for him, throwing desperate looks back at him as he stood up and limped towards the side of the street after them, wary that the swordsman was nowhere to be found again. His head spun and he gritted his teeth as he threw his hands forwards, shunting the winds out of the space in front of them so they could safely pass through.

He nodded, and the group hurried across as fast as they could, he took a step forward to follow when the wind was taken out of him, and he screamed as stars exploded in his vision. The air tunnel collapsed and his view of the others were cut off. It hurt just to take in breaths of air as he spun around, a ball of air in each palm and a snarl on his features.

Once again. No one was there.

A hand slammed into his throat and shoved him up against the wall, his feet dangling a few inches over the ground. He saw those eyes again, cold and mercilessly grey as they bored into his, the only part of the man's face that was visible due to the heavy cloth stretching in between both sides of the hood. Tai couldn't help focusing on the swirling patterns of strange characters that danced across the grey overcoat, and he stiffened as the edge of the man's sword was pressed into his ribs.

For the first time, he spoke. "The Black Day will come. And there will be fear." No inflection and tone whatsoever could be found in his voice. The only thing the boy could pin for sure was that the man hidden in the hood was old.

Tai stiffened and his heart was in his throat as he felt the blade move forwards, instead of going into his stomach it was intentionally being slipped past his side, stabbing through the thick material of his longcoat like it was nothing. The blade vanished, and the hand around his throat disappeared, the man with it.

He barely registered the fact that he was now sitting on the ground, mind reeling at the close call he just had.

The boy didn't wait around, opening another air tunnel to get across the street and back to the others.

* * *

氷


	4. Slowing Thaw

氷

* * *

The shadowy mass rushed towards her, two burning points of white boring into the avatar with impossible rage and suffering, unable to see past the closed world of hurt and fear that caged it.

She dove out of the way clumsily, the normally easy movement requiring a large amount of effort from the tired girl. She panted, putting her hands on her knees as she stared down at the snow for a few seconds, wondering how long she could keep this up.

Her wondering only lasted for a few seconds as one of the spirits broke out of the snowy maelstrom towards her, it's mouth wide open with shadowy fangs bared. Summoning up her rapidly dwindling reserves of strength, she stood her ground as the large entity kept roaring closer and closer. She held both hands out, splaying her palms and keeping them next to each other as it continued to close the distance.

The girl felt a familiar buzzing sensation in her head as the spirit bore down on her, and she gritted her teeth and pushed it away, focusing on the few basics of airbending she had been taught by both Tenzin and Tai.

Another piercing roar as the spirit sensed victory, but as it opened it's mouth impossibly wide to reveal the shadowy maw within she acted, taking a deep breath and filling up her lungs to bursting. She exhaled and felt a tingling wave of energy flow down both arms, gathering at the center of her palms to be used how she needed it.

Twin streams of twisting wind speared forwards, punching through the long and writhing form of the spirit like it wasn't even there at all. The spirit's scream was of unimaginable intensity as it whipped and flailed about, trying to wriggle it's way free of the twin spears of wind which still spun furiously.

She gritted her teeth with the effort of keeping the spinning masses in one piece, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she appreciated just how difficult manipulating wind was when compared to the other elements. It was like trying to focus on something that wasn't there at all, and then trying to bend it to your needs.

It screamed again, and the twisted shadowy threads that made up it's entire body seemed to quiver as the spirit convulsed, the white burning points turning to a blazing orange, as random patches in it's body started to burn from the inside. Korra felt a pang of guilt for the suffering spirit, but gritted her teeth when images of Mako being tossed around by it came to mind.

She growled and pumped more energy into her wind spears, increasing their spinning to massive speeds and further tearing apart the creature. The howls nearly shattered her eardrums, only making her even more determined to put the thing down.

After a final shudder, and what seemed like an eternal struggle for Korra, the spirit went limp, and didn't move at all. She dissipated the wind spears, letting the now lifeless shadowy mass fall into the snow with a loud thud. She would have been fine with having time to recover from the harrowing fight when the screams of the second creature made her turn around, seeing a waterbender wrapped up in one of the many tendrils trailing from it.

The spirit flung the man away, sending him tumbling through the snow and disappearing into the depths of the blizzard. She frowned when she realized that the rest of them were nowhere to be found. Putting away her doubts she advanced, intent on trying to finish it as quickly as possible. She broke into a run, and immediately found herself slowing down, her legs refusing to go faster than a crawl. Her breath came out in ragged gasps as she trudged through the snow towards the remaining spirit, trying to figure out how to take it down when she was this close to collapsing.

Her planning had to wait when it turned on her with frightening speed, opening it's maw to scream as it rushed through the air towards her. Self-preservation gave her a quick burst of energy, enough to dive out of the way, but not enough to completely dodge the pain-filled being. A tendril trailing from it's side slammed her across the back as it rushed past, forcing a choked cry out of her, along with all of her breath as well.

The world tumbled around her, and she couldn't feel her legs and arms, even though she could see them being knocked around mercilessly. She slid to a halt a few seconds later, face down in the snow as she felt shivers wrack her frame. She curled up, trying to summon up the strength to _get up_ but it wouldn't come. A tickle of the wind on her ear signaled that the spirit was coming back again, and this time she wasn't sure she would be able to get out of the way in time.

But a rebellious thought immediately smashed away those doubts, and issued a single command for her to follow: Survive.

It gave her a brief burst of strength and purpose, and slowly she rose from the snow, ignoring the cold and dampness that completely covered her, constantly trying to sap the new-found energy away from her. She took a step forward, stopping herself from swaying as much as she could as a idea began to form in her mind.

She opened her palm and concentrated, even as the spirit was closing in at a frighteningly fast speed, sensing that it's opponent was exhausted and nearly broken. The air tickling her hand rushed into a single clump above her palm, and immediately her energy began to drop as she concentrated on the shape and density, trying to get the exact mix of air and pressure necessary for the advanced technique to be effective.

A ball of thickly compressed air formed in it's entirety, surrounding a core of rapidly moving wind that was trying to get out any way it could, but she gritted her teeth and kept it contained, holding her palm forwards so that the air sphere was between her and the oncoming shadowy mass. It was hard to concentrate, and her vision started swimming again as two burning discs of white turned to orange, and an unearthly voice screamed at her in a language painful to the ears and mind.

But she stood her ground, and just as it was a few metres away she flung her other palm upwards as fast as possible, pushing the air up to send her underneath the spirit's snake-like frame. It's eyesight seemed to be incredibly poor, as it didn't change direction or stop in it's tracks, still flowing over her as fast as ever. She felt a dull impact on her back as she hit the snow, and was now lying on her back and facing into the shadowy mass of tendrils that made up it's body.

Without any hesitation she slammed the sphere into the spirit, splitting open the thick outer layer to unleash the hurricane force winds within. Nothing but roaring wind and pained screams reached her ears, and her head throbbed terribly as she gritted her teeth, keeping the pressure on as her vision dimmed, and threatened to take her into unconsciousness. But she couldn't give up now, not when the city was still in danger from this thing. If she gave up now, it would rampage through the city, taking many lives before being stopped.

She had to keep going, she was the Avatar. A single cry came from her, containing all of her fury and frustration and exhaustion and her desire to just get this _over with_. She didn't need every element to do her duty, she could still help those who place their trust in her, she wouldn't fail them. A familiar strength surged into her arms and hands, and she pushed the sphere further in, embedding it deep into the mat of tendrils and leaving it there. She let the world fall away, picturing nothing but the stabilitiy of that sphere as she rolled out from under the spirit as it passed by entirely, leaving her free to collapse the sphere.

The spirit screamed again, but this time there was something final about it as the shadowy mass slammed into the snow, it's entire frame shuddering as the sphere of wind lodged in it's side collapsed with explosive force, letting the maelstrom within tear apart the tendrils making up it's skin. It screamed and it screamed before shuddering a few more times before finally laying still, half buried in the snow.

Korra couldn't believe her eyes. She had done it, finally she had done something on her own, without any help from her friends or others-

The girl heard a rumble and the sound of snow being lifted about behind her. And she felt chills down her spine as she turned around with widened eyes, panic beginning to overtake her as the ragged holes in the first creature's body began to mend themselves, new tendrils twirling around each other and tightening to form new, unmarred skin. White discs began to burn again, and the spirit lifted itself from the snow, rushing over the frozen girl's head to the second spirit's side.

The large hole blasted in it's side began to mend itself as well, and soon enough the second spirit was whole again, floating up into the air to rejoin it's brother.

She fell to her knees, feeling numbness in every part of her as she the two of them looked down on her, and the white discs flared with fury and turned a bright orange as they rushed forward, intent on ending the avatar before she had even gotten out of train-

Something dark and blurry rushed out the blizzard behind them, and the girl barely registered _another _shadowy entity as it slammed into the backs of the two spirits, bringing them crashing down into the snow immediately. The twin snake spirits bucked and screamed as it restrained them, large and thick tendrils extending from what would be it's arm to cover the two spirits entirely. The muffled screams continued under the shadowy blob as it slowly sank into the ground, disappearing from the numbed girl's sight entirely within a few seconds.

The third shadow creature stood in front of her, head tilted as it looked at her with four burning slits of orange. Slowly, what had happened, and she swayed unsteadily as she walked towards the creature, not sure what to do or even say.

It decided that for her as it rushed forward, slamming a tendril around her neck and pinning her to the city wall. She gasped for air as it leaned towards her, the four slits changing from a burning orange to a cool white as the tendril's pressure on her neck lessened and she could breathe easily again.

She stayed completely still, not tearing her gaze away from it as she tried to choke out a question. "What - are - you?"

"A messenger." A deep and rumbling voice answered her, the very sound chilling her to the core. She suppressed a shudder as some of the tendrils snaked under her collar and wrapped themselves around her arm. She gasped as a burning sensation intensified where they met her skin, and it felt like her head was exploding from the inside as shivers wracked her body. Just as quickly as they brought the agony they were retracted, and the spirit tilted it's as she kept up a brave front, trying not to break down at the sight of the incomprehensible being standing in front of her. Her vision swam and she gritted her teeth as she resisted the urge to scream.

Korra was about to open her mouth again to speak, to ask what it wanted when the shadowy spirit shook a little. It was _laughing_. "You aren't what we're looking for. You aren't ready yet. _Avatar_." The last word coming out of it was dripping with derision as it released it's grip from her, and just as fast it appeared, it threw itself back into the blizzard, disappearing entirely and leaving her dumbstruck.

* * *

Tai stumbled as the roaring winds picked up in intensity, pushing him off-balance and tipping him towards the hard and cold pavement. He flailed his arms to get a grip on anything nearby, his fingers grabbed onto the corner of a brick in the wall nearby, but immediately they slipped off, and he rushed towards the ground. He flailed again, and this time he managed to hook his fingers around an indent in the garden arch nearby.

He breathed a sigh of relief at the chance of missed face abuse, and pulled himself up and stumbled through the archway into the front garden of the manor house, shivering constantly as the cold sapped energy from him with every step.

Naga rounded the corner of the house and peered at him, lumbering over to lick him, putting the ghost of a smile on the boy as he placed a hand on the sliding door, opening it to see the nice and warm lounge room. Tenzin and his family were in the room, with him peering worryingly at Kirima, whose eyes were screwed shut as she laid on the couch, with Bolin watching over her with his fingertips pressed together.

Asami and Verick sat nearby as well, exchanging worried glances when they saw Tai stumble through the doorway and out of the cold. He was exhausted, and tipped over into the corner chair nearby, burying his face into the warm fabric and it felt _oh so good_.

Someone's shadow fell over the chair, and their hands shook his shoulders. "Spirits, are you okay?" Asami didn't wait for an answer as she dragged him away from the warm fabric, flipping him over so that he was now laying on the chair normally, with most of his body dangling from it. "I'm glad you fought that guy off."

He gave a thumbs up, keeping up the appearance that he was none the worse for wear after being shoved up against a wall and having a disturbingly familiar sword being pressed to his throat. "Yes. Fought him off. I did do that." he lied very badly, getting looks from Bolin and Tenzin in the process.

"Who was it?" Tenzin asked, folding his arms and coming over with a stern look that could tell steel where to bend.

"I don't know." he murmured. Realizing that wasn't enough of an explanation he sighed. "He was trained in the sword though, and he moved faster than the wind."

Tenzin's eyebrow rose. "An airbender?"

He nodded. "Definitely, has the eyes." Tenzin frowned as he noticed the boy had his gaze for a few seconds. There was something else.

"Tai, what is it?" he asked carefully, knowing how sensitive his student was with this kind of topic.

The boy straightened, standing up from the chair as he looked at the floor, hands clenched. After a few seconds his eyebrows furrowed. "Nothing." he murmured, closing himself off to everyone.

There was a thump at the door, and everyone exchanged glances as the boy walked over and slid the door open. He stepped back in surprise, eyes wide. "Mako?" The firebender was shivering constantly, and would have fallen forwards on the floor if Tai hadn't caught him. He heard a little yap coming from underneath Mako's scarf, and a grey snout poked out of it as Kaze picked his way out from the coat, falling to the floor and whimpering as he looked at both Tai and Mako.

"Korra..." he murmured, as Tai dragged him over to the armchair. Now that he was in the well-lit room, the airbender saw all of the cuts and bruises on his forearms and face, and he wondered just what happened to them. "She needs help."

"Bro!" Bolin stood up and ran over, kneeling by the armchair and keeping a constant eye on his older brother. Pabu wormed his way out of Bolin's collar and hopped onto the firebender's chest, chattering as he licked a few of the scratches clean as his way of helping.

Tenzin glanced at Pema. "Get the medkit."

Verick stood up as well and nodded at the airbender while glancing at Pema. "I'll help." he offered.

She nodded and hurried out of the room, Jinora and Ikki following her.

Naga poked her head through the open door and crooned while Bolin fretted over Mako. "It's gonna be okay, you'll be fine-"

Asami walked over as well, worry in every fiber of her being. "Mako." she knelt next to Bolin, and reached her hand forward towards a stray hair over his face, before catching herself and quickly snatching it away, sighing and holding onto his hand instead. After a few seconds she nodded and stood up, walking purposefully towards the hallway. "I'll get some blankets. Bolin, see to Kirima." she ordered, running over the few basic lessons of looking after patients she picked up from Kya when she was younger.

Immediately Bolin bristled as he stood up, shaking his head as he pointed at Mako. "He's kept me safe for all of my life-"

"I know! But _Kirima _needs your help now! Look, please stay with her?" Asami stared him down, trying to communicate that his older brother would do fine without him for a little while."

Slowly Bolin nodded, giving her a dark look as he squeezed his brother's arm one last time before turning around. "I'll take her to one of the guest rooms. Warmer." he murmured, pointedly avoiding any of the apologetic looks Asami gave him as he left.

"Mako. Where is Korra?" Tenzin gently asked, very well aware that he could lose consciousness at any moment. Tai stepped towards the door, ready to go as Tenzin waited for the firebender to answer.

"At- at the city gates. Two spirits." Mako's voice was weak as his eyes fluttered dangerously, getting a worried look from Bolin just before he left the room, with Kirima cradled in his arms.

* * *

Tai nodded and stepped out into the cold, nudging Kaze back inside as he waited for Tenzin to follow. "Blizzards getting worse."

"Hopefully she's still standing, but against two spirits-"

"She's tough, master." Tai sighed and drew his long coat tighter around himself. "Just hope we get there in time."

The two of them trudged through the deepening snow covering the front garden, heads bowed a little against the worsening wind and snow. Tenzin led the way, ducking through the arch and stepping to the side while waiting for his pupil to follow.

Their way down the street was slow-going at first, until Tenzin began making small and subtle motions with his hands. The wind dropped a little around the two of them, and the snow suddenly began blowing away from them and back up into the sky instead. The effects were similar to Tai and his air tunnel, except much more effective and with less effort required.

"Showoff." the boy muttered under his breath.

"I heard that." Tenzin glanced back at him with a smirk as he kept walking, somehow hearing the boy's near silent words over the deafening keening of wind and rushing of snow.

Tai sighed and nodded as he followed his master around the corner, his navigating completely reliant on the bright orange of his robes, which barely stood out amongst the densely packed snow and faint outlines of buildings on either side.

He was about to speak up about his problem concerning Korra when the barely audible sound of someone's foot crunching in snow carried to him. That itself wouldn't have caused any alarm if it wasn't followed by the sound of a blade being drawn as well.

Ahead Tenzin stiffened and danced back against the corner of a storefront straddling the side-street and the main road. Without a word Tai crouched down, slowly moving forward towards the side of a car parked nearby.

Some of the massive pile of snow sitting on top of it's navy colored roof trickled down the side as he put his back against it. He glanced at Tenzin, who nodded as he quickly peered around the corner, raising his hand carefully and performing twisting movements directed at the white expanse in the middle of the main road. Slowly the section of snow and wind being thrown about between them and the mystery sound cleared up, providing a direct line of sight to whoever was out there in the middle of the street.

It took time for the snow and wind to clear up enough for them to be able to see anything and none of them dared move while they waited, not wanting to chance that whoever was up ahead would spot them. Visibility would be nonexistent for them, and the risk of being attacked by a wild and primal show of bending prevailed in both of the airbender's thoughts.

Tenzin squinted as he spotted dark man-shaped blur standing in the center of the road, standing like they were frozen to the spot. His eyes widened for an instant when the snow cleared a bit further, revealing another human-shaped blur standing farther along the road, stopped in their tracks by the dark blur, which held the unmistakable profile of a slightly curved sword to the side.

The second blur stood strangely, and it looked like whoever it was had been injured severely, and could barely support themselves. Tenzin glanced at his student, getting his attention by bending a small stream of wind to irritate his ear. The boy looked over at him and Tenzin pointed to himself then to a unknown vantage point farther up the pavement. He prayed that Tai would understand his intent, and also the unspoken message that he stay put for now.

Luckily Tai seemed to have listened to both parts, and Tenzin took a deep breath and crept forwards, keeping as far back from the curb as possible while he moved towards the branch-off to another sidestreet just up ahead. The deep snow packed along the roadway in front of him would definitely make a loud enough noise to carry to the two mystery figures, stealth was key here, even if they were the friendliest people on the planet they could still react _badly_.

But he didn't have the luxury of time, Korra was still out here somewhere, and judging from Mako's account she was in serious trouble. He held his hand out and concentrated, curling his fingers inwards slightly as he focused on the corner sitting across from him. He repeated the same action with his other hand, only this time he held it out behind himself. He imagined a great stream of air blowing across from him to the corner, and spun his hands quickly.

The result carried him over the side-street and across to the other side, he released the stream and let it dissipate, dropping to the ground soundlessly. He glanced back and grimaced when he couldn't see his student as the snow had thickened too much. He hoped that he was still crouched behind the car as he crept forward, aiming to get to a vantage point where he could identify the second figure from.

He grunted as the wind picked up in it's intensity, surprising the airbending master as it nearly bowled him over. The ferocious gale blew past him towards the center of the main road, whipping about the constant and heaving snowfall into a frenzy that served to clear the air up even further. He saw the cold grey eyes behind the first figure's mask flit towards him for an instant, recognition being shared between both of them before the hooded man looked towards his target again.

The girl could barely keep her eyes open as she took a step forward, swaying heavily as she gasped, clamping a hand over her left shoulder as she gritted her teeth and nearly twisted over right there and then. Protective instinct welled up in Tenzin, and he nearly broke into a reckless sprint before managing to rein himself in. Caution had to be kept here.

But the same couldn't be said for the thoughts running through Tai's head.

He broke out from behind the snowed in car into a sprint, feet sinking deep into the snow as he held his hands out behind himself in a wide arc. He growled as a sphere of highly pressurized wind swirled into being over each outstretched palm, all thoughts geared towards stopping the hooded man from taking one step further towards Korra.

Concern for himself was thrown to the wind as he yelled and threw both palms forwards, intending the slam the rapidly spinning masses of wind into the swordsman's exposed back and finish the fight there.

His eyes widened as wind and snow replaced the hooded man, and he didn't register the shadow looming over him as a vice like grip wrapped around his neck. Momentum carried the boy for a bit before he was jerked back by the man's grip, stars exploded in his vision as he began to choke, trying and failing to gasp for air as his world spun and spun.

Suddenly the pressure on his throat was gone as he tumbled violently across the deep snow, his skull rattling and his thoughts scattering as his shoulder hit the curb with an almighty crack, and he screamed as pain clouded his thoughts even further. His breaths were deep and ragged as his back slammed into the ice-hard wall, the pain almost putting him out. But he gritted his teeth and fought to stand up, trying to force his legs into a sprint towards the frozen girl standing out in the middle of the road, completely rooted to the spot as the tip of a white curved sword rocketed towards her belly. The fear in her eyes was complete as it was about to pierce her-

A blur put itself between her and the blade, and the sword was wrenched off-course as a stream of wind slammed into the flat of the metal. A second stream was directed straight at the swordsman, who uttered a quiet grunt as he danced to the opposite side of the main road with almost no effort, using the snow to fasten his passage.

Tenzin shielded Korra, putting himself between her and the once again standing-still hooded man, who tilted his head at the touching display as he reaffirmed his grip on the wickedly curved sword. The airbending master windmilled his arms as he advanced, spinning the air above and below into a thin but very strong spinning mass, that encompassed his thin frame, it quickly picked up speed as it spun towards the hooded man, kicking up great piles of snow into the air in it's wake.

But the hooded man was very nimble, and in a flash was already sailing through the air at Tenzin's side, his sword slicing towards him. Tenzin was smart, and instantly dropped to the ground, spinning his hands and guiding the pinwheel down onto the swordsman. It collapsed as a solid body interfered with the fragile mass, sending the swordsman tumbling through the snow and disappearing into the depths of the blizzard in the city gate's direction.

He stopped for a moment, trying to hear any trace of the man moving around in the blizzard. He didn't need to go at it for long when he spotted a trace of a blur rushing across the center of the road, and his blood froze as he realized the swordsman was now targeting his student. He pushed at the air behind himself, and it responded by propelling him in a sailing arc over the top of the still-stunned girl's head. He rolled once to keep his passage smooth as he neared the other side of the street, as he dropped he mitigated his impact on the hard-packed snow by tucking his legs in and angling his shoulder to take the brunt. A grunt was taken from him as he rolled over his shoulder, and quickly popped up into a airbending stance as he slowed his breathing, preparing to relax his limbs to ease the passage of chi flow into his arms and legs.

Nothing rushed out of the blizzard towards him as he stepped onto the footpath, advancing slowly along it as he kept a cautious eye out at the all encompassing white haze. He never strayed too far from where Korra was, making sure that he would protect them both.

He heard the sound of someone tumbling through the snow, and watched as Tai was sent sliding back along the snowed road, managing to keep on his feet as he slowed his passage by digging his fingers into the powder. He came to a halt near the stricken girl, and he pulled her down into the snow with a alarmed grunt as a black shadow darted out of the blizzard towards the two of them. The curve sword passed through the space where she was standing just before, and the boy extended both palms upwards, sending a pair of spearing columns twisting around each other against the hooded man.

The swordsman twisted out of the way, barely avoiding them with inches to spare as he used his momentum to send the blade in a large horizontal slice aimed at the boy kneeling nearby. Tai pushed at the ground nearby, the razor edge slicing through a few tips of his black hair in the process. The boy swept his legs around, hitting nothing but snow as his opponent's hand shot towards his throat, landing with a iron-like grip.

Tai struggled as he was lifted out of the snow, and stared straight into the cold grey eyes of the strange for a moment before being thrown back into the snow. The man didn't move as the boy quickly stood up, a ball of air appearing in his palm as he readied himself for another bout of fighting.

He noticed his master beginning to break into a sprint towards the exposed back of the man, the boy suddenly rushed forward with the air sphere held out in front of him, holding out his other hand to blast a stream of fast flowing wind at the ground behind himself. The stream propelled him towards the hooded man, and the boy gritted his teeth as he closed in, hoping that Tenzin would be fast enough.

With a flick of the wrist, the hooded man's sword was slicing towards the boy's exposed side, easily in place to end his life right there and then as the boy extended his outstretched palm as far as he could, the air sphere now only a few inches away from slamming into the dark leather padding over the man's chest.

Just as he felt the slightest of a rip through the cuff of his sleeve, the boy watched the hooded man move out of the way in a flash, his sword snatched away from it's passage as Tenzin's scowling features appeared between two spiraling columns of wind. Immediately they collapsed before they could touch the boy, and Tai skidded to a halt along the snow, stopping just a few inches from hitting him as well.

They both looked up to see the hooded man dropping towards them like a meteorite, surrounded by a dark swirling nimbus of wind and snow that ended in a sharp cone covering the outstretched blade's tip. As he rocketed down, the two airbenders quickly sent pushes of wind against the other, and they were both thrown back from each other as the hooded man thunderously impacted into the ground. The swirling maelstrom was released in all of it's fury, and the snow covering the road was ripped up in great swathes and sent careening through the air.

One of these droves of snow slammed into Tai head on, sending him sliding back a few metres on his knees. Tenzin experienced the same as well, and managed to flip over a snowed in car sitting in the street, holding onto it's roof as the winds howled ferociously. The hooded man was absent from the epicenter of the mini storm, and the two airbenders were helpless against the strong winds as they held on. In between them the girl lay face-down in the snow, but was picked by an invisible hand and sent sliding down the street towards the boy's position.

Tai gritted his teeth as he threw a hand out, nearly losing his weak grip on her shoulder as she slid within reaching distance. The wind tore at him, and as it picked up, he lost his hold on her briefly, before he managed to get a much more stable hold on the fur lining of her collar. He held onto her as best as he could, using all of the strength he had to keep them anchored in their spots on the ground, as the wind continued to howl and whip above them.

Everything went quiet for a few seconds, and slowly he lifted his head up from the snow, seeing that the air had cleared up enough to see more than a few feet now, as if there wasn't a hurricane force wind blowing down the main road just now. His mind froze as he realized they were at the hooded man's mercy, but the flash of a sword didn't appear, and he didn't feel his blood chill as a pair of hard grey eyes bored into his soul.

He kept a hand on Korra as he straightened, seeing Tenzin moving towards the two of them.

"Korra?" Tenzin said, failing to hide the worry and fear for her contained in his voice. He knelt down, holding onto her hand as the girl's eyes fluttered open.

"Guys..." she murmured, reaching a hand out to the boy nearby to signal that she was still among the living and conscious.

Immediately Tai wrapped his hand around hers, and carefully pulled her out of the snow, keeping a tight hold on her as he draped her arm around his neck and onto his shoulder. The girl's eyes closed for a few moments as she swayed terribly, prompting him to loop a supporting hand around her waist as well. "Hey. Hold on! We'll-"

The sounds of shouting voices coming from the city gate's direction stopped him from speaking even further, and he glanced at Tenzin, who had already taken a few steps forward, preparing to stalk down the road towards them. He stopped without looking at the two of them. "Get her inside Tai. I'll be back."

He didn't wait for the boy's answer as he disappeared into the blizzard, leaving Tai standing in the cold for a few seconds, his mind trying to formulate a plan and work through what his master just instructed. A tiny murmur from the girl roused him and sped up his thoughts, and he started trudging through the snow along the main road, keeping the faintly visible blur of blue light high above in his sight as he passed one of the side-streets.

A small and barely-there chuckle rose from her, surprising the boy enough to stop near the corner of the storefront leading into the manor house's side street. "We do this...a lot... don't we?" the girl forced out with a voice little more than a strained whisper.

Even though she was in a bad way and he wasn't much better, Tai found a small smile forming. "Yeah. Guess we do."

"Did he hurt you?" the girl managed to force out, immediately bringing a tinge to the boy's cheeks. Even after taking on two spirits and badly hurt she still worried about _him_.

He wasn't sure what to make of that as the girl fell silent once more. He yelped as his grip slipped and she nearly crashed into the snow, stopped by him flailing wildly and managing to get a purchase on the fur lining on her collar. By accident he pulled a bit too much, and the heavy fabric and fur slipped from her shoulder a little, revealing a absolutely horrendous line of inky black trails marring her light brown skin.

The boy quickly covered her shoulder again, and reaffirmed his grip as he continued onto the footpath across from the front garden arch. His mind raced, trying to figure out what possibly could have done something like that to her. He was interrupted by the girl stirring again, and he found he could not stop himself from looking into her vibrant blue eyes. "Thank you." she murmured, before slipping away again, leaving him to continue towards the manor house in silence, only accompanied by the slowly dropping howls of the wind as it tried it's best to blow the thinning snow around.

As he stepped through the arch, her eyes opened again, and she lifted her head as they neared the sliding door to the interior of the house. Slowly, her steps grew in strength, and she straightened as he placed a hand on the sliding door, opening it and almost stumbling into the warm room inside.

A pair of green eyes rose to meet him, and Asami's hair whipped about as she stood up and hurried towards the two of them, worry and confusion and questions all fighting each other in her. "Help." Tai grunted, as he stopped being able to ignore the rapid deadening of his limbs.

They were all replaced by worry for a friend as she noticed the state Korra was in, and placed a hand on Tai's chest as she slowly pulled her away from his grip. He relented as she took the strain for him and glanced at the middle aged woman kneeling over her patient nearby. "Kya."

She looked up as she finished replacing the blanket on Mako, her eyes immediately filling with concern as Asami guided Korra over to her. "Spirits." she muttered, as Tai picked his way between them and fell face-first onto the couch nearby.

He would have gladly accepted the offer of sleep if the door didn't slide open, with Tenzin stepping through, followed by a grim-faced man with brown skin and weathered features, and his long black hair restrained back from his face, with two dark blue tubes similar to the ones Korra wore containing some of it.

The boy rolled around and sat up as Kya and Asami exchanged looks, Verick walked into the room with several blankets in his arms, and nearly dropped them when he saw the grim-faced man standing behind Tenzin, followed by a boy who looked uncannily similar to the girl currently resting in the little room upstairs.

"Chief Unalaq." he breathed.

"Where is my daughter? Where is my niece?"

* * *

氷


	5. Ending Blizzard

氷

* * *

A flame flickered nearby, and Bolin snapped awake with a start, immediately rushing to keep it from going out, losing some of the warmth being given to the girl wrapped under the sheets of the nearby bed, pushed up against a closed window. Also if it went out, most of the room would be plunged into darkness, reflecting the dead of night outside.

The painted wooden boards clattered occasionally as the winds outside pushed against them, although recently the moments they did this had lessened, and now only moved about roughly every half hour. Bolin rubbed his eyes as vigorously as he could, keeping himself awake as long as possible. Although he reckoned that he wouldn't be able to sleep well anyway, with his brother injured downstairs and the girl recovering up here.

No, he would never forgive himself if he fell asleep now of all times.

He shifted on the chair a little, and it protested with a sharp and loud squeak that dominated the little room, the boy panicked and clamped his hands down on it's sides, doing whatever he could to muffle the noise.

It didn't work, and the girl turned her head and looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "How long?" her voice was quiet and strained, and she could barely keep her vivid blue eyes open while she laid there under the sheets.

"About four hours. Um - how are you feeling?" He found himself drumming his fingers on the side of the rickety little chair, he stopped that immediately as Pabu popped out from under his collar, squeaking once more as he stretched.

The girl went to sit up, but the small movement proved too great for her and she relented, keeping still as a statue while she stared at the wall. "Warm."

That got a short chuckle out of him, although he didn't really want it to. She ceased her staring of the wall, and looked at him again. "Your friends, are they?-"

"They're good!" he assured a little _too _quickly. She noticed how fast his eyes worked to avoid her, and she knew instantly that everything was definitely not good. She decided to let him tell the truth on his own though, she was never one for pressuring people. She preferred staying quiet and out of everyone's way. She tilted her head a little when she saw him poke his index fingers together, again she found the odd little movement a bit strange. "W- well- uh -" he stammered to a halt and looked away from her and at the floor, trying to summon up the courage to actually face the fact that his brother and his friend were seriously injured. He sighed and hung his head, but fixed her with a sad and lost look. "My older brother he... he went out to look for us, and Korra she-"

Kirima's head swirled suddenly when she heard her cousin's name mentioned. "K-Korra?" she whispered, anxious and worried that she had been badly injured. All because of _her_ no doubt. She hung her head. "Where is sh-" her question had to wait as a dizzying sensation forced her to grip the sides of the bed with as little strength as she had and try to keep herself steady and alert.

But it was tough, and she thought for the umpteenth time how she had always been fragile and prone to being stuck in a bed. She hated the familiar feeling of nausea welling up in her belly, and she was sure she went as pale as a ghost as her body forced her to sit upright in the bed and hold herself there until the nausea went away.

Bolin reached a hand forward and held onto hers gently, backing up his supportive gesture with his worrying green eyes. "Stay still. You aren't quite fixed yet." He tried out a grin on her, but it all really showed was that he wasn't quite fixed himself. Two brown ears wormed their way out of his collar, and Pabu clambered over his shoulder towards the heavy sheets on top of her. He chittered as he ran across them and settled down in the depression in the blankets over where her arms laid.

The room fell silent as the boy looked back at the floor, adopting a worried face as she stared at the wall near the door, before she found her vision sliding slowly towards his broad shoulders, which surprised her when her cheeks tinged in response. She quickly found that the room had somehow gotten warmer, and she desperately hoped he wouldn't notice her looking at him. She tried switching to a logical perspective. He had helped her without question, he had protected her from the strange men, and he kept her warm as best he could in the middle of a blizzard. And he was gentle, and amusing. And something suddenly occurred to her normally one-track mind.

She had a _crush_. One time she asked her brother what that was, and he dismissed her immediately, saying she shouldn't be thinking of such low ideas and concepts. Of course he didn't know that she knew that he had one of these very 'crushes' on the naval commander's daughter.

Pabu squeaked as she rolled back the blankets a little, feeling very warm indeed from laying under the five or so layers for several hours. She stole another look at the sullen boy, seeing that he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts and how interesting the floor looked to notice that she had moved a little. A strange thought moved across her mind. Why did she want him to notice her moving?

"Are you okay? Should I call-"

Kirima reddened instantly, and panic took over when she realized he was looking at her, that same dopey look on him with the ever-present sadness damping it a little. She nodded slowly then tried to articulate her movement into words. So she squeaked.

"Um-" He arched an eyebrow as he moved a little closer, rooting her in place as he ever so thoughtfully decided to place a palm on her forehead. His eyes widened in alarm as he withdrew it. "You're burning up!" he stepped over the chair and moved towards the door, ready to find Pema or Asami when suddenly someone standing at his height and almost shaking with barely contained anger stopped him.

"Get away from her! That's my sis-"

"Hey wha-"

"Desna, enough!" She bolted upright, trying to get a good look at her twin brother as he leveled a smoldering gaze at Bolin, who looked completely helpless about what to do. Her brother finally noticed she was sitting completely upright, her bearing rigid and formal as she narrowed her eyes.

Slowly, the boy's eyes softened a little as he looked at the floor for a moment. "I-" he looked back at Bolin and immediately he inclined his head, with as much respect as he could. "I apologize. I didn't mean to berate you like that. My name is Desna, I'm-"

"Her brother. She- kind of told us while we were being chased by those guys." Bolin scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably as he glanced at the empty seat near the bed, he indicated it to Desna. "There's uh, a seat here if you want it." He watched as the boy nodded stiffly, before bowing his head again. "I- thank you. If I can ask, what's your name?"

"Bolin." he said, looking at his hand for a moment before putting it forward, for Desna to shake. The sheltered boy did so cautiously, a bit wary of how small and fragile his hands looked compared to the earthbender's.

"Thank you. Bolin." he said again, unsure of what else to say in a situation like this. An idea came to him, and as he sat down on the empty chair he looked at his sister. "Kiri. These men, did they have any identifying marks on them?"

She shook her head. "None that I saw. I was too busy _running_." she smirked as Desna sighed and shook his head.

"Actually, they did. Each one of them had something grey on their clothing. One guy had a scarf, another a balaclava I think." Bolin piped up from his spot leaning on the wall, Desna looked at him and nodded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Father might know who they are. As soon as you are fully rested we will ask him." he shuffled forward and he clasped her hand in his, smiling tenderly at his slightly younger sister. "I'll head down to tell him you're safe." she nodded as he reluctantly took his hand away, although he was confident that he could trust this 'Bolin' with her safety.

"Are you going to check on Korra as well?" For an instant his smile tightened a little, and there was a hard look in his eyes to with it. Immediately they disappeared as he nodded, replaced by a tender expression again. "Yes." he promised, squeezing his sisters hand one more time before getting up from the rickety chair, moving around it towards the hallway outside, with the corner of a staircase leading down just in view. As he walked past Bolin a bit of shame found him and made him stop, he glanced at Bolin and jerked his chin towards the hallway outside. "If you will. I want to speak to you in private."

The earthbender nodded and stepped off of the wall, following him through the doorway. He heard the sounds of a heated argument coming up from downstairs, the words too muffled to know what they were talking about. But he knew that Tenzin was making up one half of it. Desna leaned on the rail surrounding the staircase, and he hung his head as Bolin waited for what he had to say.

"I wanted to thank you. For what you did for my sister, I don't think many people would have helped a complete stranger to them." Desna sighed and it sounded like his words took extreme difficulty to come out fully, and Bolin realized how tough it must have been for him to admit this.

"It wasn't a problem, she kind of bumped into us, and she looked like she needed help."

"Us?" The Northern Triber looked at Bolin for a moment with his head tilted and thin brown eyebrow raised. "Oh yes, your friend downstairs. He is quite hotheaded. I've also noticed that Verick is here as well."

Bolin chuckled as he walked forwards, leaning on the railing as well next to Desna. "You know him?"

To his surprise Desna rolled his eyes derisively. "He has a... _reputation_... back home. Most of the women there have taken a liking to him."

"That sounds like jealousy dude." Bolin grinned as Desna sighed and rolled his eyes again, sinking lower as he rested his chin on the railing.

"I do not get 'jealous'. I just have a duty to my people, that is all."

"_Riiiiight._" he teased, glad that they had patched things up so quickly.

Desna sighed as he pushed away from the railing. "I must see father now." he ignored the look of triumph that had lit up Bolin's face as he moved past him, and down the stairs. His view changed to that of a wide set of shallow steps, that ended immediately before a closed sliding door set into the wall, which did an admirable job of keeping the argument from spilling into the rest of the house.

Slowly he moved down the steps, not wanting to chance that his father would hear him and pull him in there. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to speak to him just yet. He crept past the sliding door, glad that his robe didn't make any excess amounts of noise. He moved down the hallway, turning the corner towards the room that admitted entrance to the rest of the modest manor house.

* * *

"Ow!... I forgot how _not nurturing _you are. I'll tell your mom about this!" Korra warned, yelping as Kya ripped away another bandage from her cheek, a massive smirk on her.

"Ohhh, does the _Avatar _want her blankie as well?" she teased, leaning past Korra to deposit the freshly ripped-off bandages in a bowl of water nearby. "I don't remember you complaining this much when I was training you." an evil gleam shone in her eye as she leant towards Korra's ear. "Did Republic City soften you up?"

Korra answered by narrowing her eyes and folding her arms. "No! Things were plenty tough over there!" she opened her palm and extended her fingers. "Protestors. Metalbending cops. Chi Blockers. Mecha Tanks. Amo-" her lip wavered for a moment as her pinky finger was the only one left uncurled. She looked at the ground and sighed.

She didn't move as Kya placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hey. It's not the end of the world you know."

"Might as well be." she said bitterly, unable to tear herself away from those images of the cruel white mask, or the feel of his _touch _as he took her essence away.

"At least you all got out of there safely." Kya took her hand away from the girl's shoulder, casting a critical eye on her other one as she sat by her side, drawing her knees close the same way Korra had.

"Yeah. I guess." the girl huffed, rolling her eyes as she was hopelessly ensnared in those moments of terror where she lost _everything_.

"Well this is getting a little gloomy!" Kya said suddenly, stealing a glance at closed sliding door behind them before smiling. "How are you and Mako going?"

The girl lifted her head slightly, a little bit of happiness breaking through on her sullen features. "Fine. He's been really supportive of my... problem."

"Gone all the way yet?" Kya suppressed a chuckle as Korra stared at her for a few moments, trying to work out what she meant by that. Slowly, realization dawned on her features as her cheeks reddened and she punched the middle-aged woman in the shoulder.

"Wha?- that's- that's- uh-" she looked away and at the floor again and shook her head. "No."

"You or him?" she pressed, rubbing the sore spot on her shoulder. She forgot how hard Korra can _hit_.

"Uh... me... I think." she was noticeably quiet now, and Kya noticed that she had turned her head slightly so that her words would be slightly muffled by the fur lining on her parka. "I- I just- I don't really... know... how to do all of that _stuff_."

"You know, I've written a few books on the subject-" A laugh came out of Kya as the girl reddened again and looked down at the floor between her boots. The older woman placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know what I think?" she waited for a small nod from her before continuing. "I think you should take it easy, go slow with him."

"Okay..." she was terribly inexperienced with this subject and Kya probably has years of experience to go by. Maybe she should take her advice. She nodded happily. "I think I'll do that. How is he?"

"Doing fine. He's just resting now." Kya reassured her.

The girl nodded as a frown found it's way onto her. Flashes of fighting those two creatures, staring into those burning discs of hate and anger, and feeling completely helpless seeing Mako hurt took her over. "I nearly got him killed." she muttered, a hard look in her eyes as she began to hate herself for not sending him back sooner.

"Would you stop doing that?"

Korra arched an eyebrow as Kya shook her head. "What?"

"Blaming yourself. You blame yourself for _every single problem_, you always have." Korra folded her arms and huffed for a moment, before looking down at the floor again as the hard look in her eyes softened. She was right, she always was.

Still that didn't mean Korra could instantly change her mind. It was still her fault that he was out with her in the first place. "But if I had just asked to go back sooner-"

"He probably would have stayed." Kya gently interrupted, giving her a grin to back it up.

After a few moments Korra let out a sigh and nodded once. "You're right. He would have."

"Korra?" she whipped around, seeing Mako at the opening behind them, being supported by Tai as he stood there. She felt relieved at how quickly he had recovered, his skin was back to it's normal warmth and he wasn't shivering anymore. The Firebender glanced at Tai, who nodded before stepping back to let him stand up on his own.

The airbender lingered for a moment, giving Korra a worried look before moving back into the frontroom. She noticed that there was something else apart from worry in the short look, but she couldn't focus on that now. She had to focus on Mako.

He smiled as he sat down next to her, having barely enough time to settle before she wrapped him in a massive embrace, resting her cheek on his shoulder as her eyes grew wet for a brief moment.

Kya was perceptive and knew the two of them needed some time alone. She smiled as she got up and walked over to a bench shoved up against the wall nearby, on which a doctors bag of simple design sat there, it's zip fully opened to reveal it's contents to the world.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, her breath warming his neck as he held her a little closer.

Mako nodded. "Yeah." he breathed, just glad that she hadn't been injured. Or worse.

She blinked the wetness away and smiled. "You gave me quite a scare."

"I tried to find them, but the cold..."

"We're all safe now. And Bolin has stopped panicking."

That made him chuckle as he cupped her cheek. "Good." As he said this, flash of those burning discs came to him, being joined by a muted ringing in his head along with the shadowy entities that had nearly taken him. "The spirits. Are they-"

"Gone. I-"

A frown grew as she felt a weird sensation on her shoulder, before she knew it the sensation flared into a hear-wrenching and mind-consuming pain that wracked her entire body, all from the source on her shoulder. She gritted her teeth as the horrible sensation grew in intensity, Mako's eyes grew wide with alarm as Kya ran towards the two of them, kneeling down in front of Korra and looking at her with worry.

Kya's hand shot towards her shoulder, working down the fabric to reveal a horrendous line of gashes and burns, all colored black as night. Immediately she held Korra still with one hand while her other drew a stream of water from the pouch on her hip, she molded it into a thick square that glowed blue and placed it over the strange wound.

She concentrated as a little gasp escaped Korra, who barely contained the shudders running through her as a strange oily sensation made itself known. Her eyes widened with the image of the white mask again and they grew wet as she fought desperately to get rid of the horrible memory.

The girl was brought back to reality when Kya grunted with pain. A web of black tendrils had spread from the wound into the blob of water, extending into the half-solid shape and dimming the cool glow of the healing water in the process. Kya brought her other hand around, the effect on the tendrils was absolute, as they shook and broke up into fragments, tearing themselves away into nothing.

Korra glanced at Kya worryingly for a moment as the pounding in her head ceased and the dark oily sensation had retreated to the spot on her shoulder. She did a double take when she saw that the wound itself had cleared up a little, now three neat black lines rather than massive jagged gashes. She arched an eyebrow, bewildered as to how it had changed.

Instantly Mako's eyes widened in alarm as she bit down on the pain, suppressing it until she could only feel a dull throb on her shoulder which was still unbelievably painful. He reached a hand to her shoulder but thought better of it, instead locking his eyes with hers. "It doesn't hurt that much." she lied.

"If I had _just _stayed-" he began to argue, quickly devolving into a state where he would only blame himself. She grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her, shutting him up with a quick lock of the lips before tipping her forehead against his.

"You would have been hurt as well. And I'll be _fine_. " she whispered, hoping that he would be able to believe that. Even if she couldn't herself.

Mako noticed that Kya had gotten up again, carrying the bowl of used bandages and tipping them into a open pocket on the side of her bag. He studied the floor for a moment before removing himself from Korra's side, standing up straight and waiting for her turn around. She arched an eyebrow when she noticed him touch his palms together and bow slightly, ignoring the look of surprise from her and Korra. "Thank you for healing me. And Korra as well."

Kya airily waved off the respectful gesture. "No worries, mom and I have pretty much been looking out for her since she had the _most adorable little belly._" the cutesy tone she put on for that last part made Mako chuckle as he glanced at Korra, who pouted and folded her arms together as insufferably as she could. It didn't really work to put off Kya's taunting or Mako's amused look.

He mouthed something to her. _Tell me later?_

She rolled her eyes and mouthed something back. _Only when I'm dead. _Still despite how she looked that vibrant feeling surfaced again, and the ever-present emptiness inside her grew smaller, the girl hoped it would stay that way. "I hate both of you." she gave Mako a pointed look, vowing certain actions that involved bodily harm and violence for him, even if he was her boyfriend she would _not let up_. With as much Avatar authority as she could muster, she pointed her finger at him. "And I will do _unspeakable __stuff to you_

"Oh, I think I'm looking forward to it." Mako grinned evilly as she sighed, extending her hand for him to help her up with. He tried his best to suppress the wince that came with his aching muscles complaining, but she managed to catch it before he could hide it fully. Outwardly she still had a grin on her, but inside she resolved to make up for it however she could. He had been hurt badly and it was her fault, so she kept telling herself.

"Hate to interrupt, but you guys should get in here." They both turned to see Tai at the door, smirking a little before jerking his thumb towards the room behind him. She frowned when she realized his smirk was slightly forced, backed up by his eye twitching every few seconds or so.

Korra's thoughts turned away from self-doubt and onto curiosity. As she looked at Tai for a few seconds, a flash of the hooded figure went through her, instantly threatening to send a shiver down her spine. She shook it away and grinned. "Uh - how come?"

The boy moved into full view, blowing a stray lock of hair out of his face as a grey wolf pup bit and tore at the top of his head. His eye twitched again as Kaze looked up from his demolishing and yapped at the three people in the room, for extra measure his tail started wagging up and down, thumping onto Tai's head in the process. "Please. Get him _off of me_."

They all laughed as he stood there, twitching again as another chunk of hair was being pulled on. Korra walked forwards and reached both hands towards Kaze's sides. The little pup gave his owner's head a lick before he was lifted into the air by Korra, who supported the pup as he nestled onto her shoulder, licking her cheek every so often.

When Mako drew close to Korra's side, he switched targets and began to lick him as well. Tai rubbed his head, wincing as he touched the tortured roots. He glanced at Korra and mouthed _thank you_, before he noticed Kya was smirking.

"Yes, lady Kya?" he said while failing to hide the exasperation in his tone.

"Nothing. Just wondering how Tenzin manages to put up with you." while her words were fairly normal, the way she said it wasn't, seeing as she was barely managing to hold back her laughter.

"Blame Kaze. I intend to. Dumb mutt." Korra tossed a scowl at him for that, making him immediately hold a hand up in apology. "Fine. He's a handful, but I'm a sucker when it comes to animals." as he said this he folded his arms and fixed the Avatar with a frown. "Which I believe is your influence!" he said loudly to get her attention.

To his disappointment she just shrugged, the small movement prompting Kaze to renew his tongue assault on her cheek. She chuckled in response, making Tai sigh. "I know a few things about Spirit-Wolves kid, and I can tell you, he's going to get a lot _bigger_."

He waved off her warning. "Eh, I can handle it."

She moved past him. "Don't say I didn't warn you Tai." she smirked again as she left him standing there, until he rolled his eyes and waved at the two of them before heading back in as well.

Mako couldn't help the little smile that broke out when Kaze rubbed his chin with his snout, getting a smile from Korra in return. His smile threatened to get bigger when he looked at her. "Haven't seen one that genuine since..."

"Ever?" she finished for him.

He sobered a little as he saw the slightly wistful look in her eyes, which was immediately dispelled when her cheek took another lick. "Hey. I'm here for you." he reassured her, confident that she could get through this in no time at all once they were back in Republic City. A frown threatened when his thoughts turned back to that fight against things only she and a few others could see, and how worse-than-useless he was in the process. He nearly had gotten her killed, he nearly burned her by accident. As he was drawn into this downward spiral of self-blame and guilt a single logical thought popped up out of nowhere.

Training. He needed to get better, he needed to contribute more to everyone and more importantly to _her_. He was pulled out of his head when she smiled again as Kaze nuzzled her chin. He would find some way to keep her happy.

* * *

"I... apologize, for my outbursts. I should have been more prudent and waited for you to explain fully about what happened." Unalaq sighed and rubbed a hand down his face, using the other as a support while he leaned over the large table dominating the room. "My daughter is special to me, I just want to keep her safe."

Tenzin nodded, sympathizing greatly. In his position he wouldn't have acted any different, most likely more hysterical actually. "It's quite alright. I have three children who constantly get into trouble." He rubbed his temples as he chuckled quietly. "They're going to be the death of me, I just know it."

"Tell me about it." the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe muttered, before laughing for a few seconds. "I think it's good that the Avatar is my brother's daughter rather than mine. I would have been buried long ago otherwise."

"She's been a handful since arriving in Republic City." Tenzin admitted, getting flashbacks of the 2000 year-old Air Gates being set on fire and smashed apart.

"Spirits, it's been a while since I last saw her." The brown-skinned man shook his head in disbelief, mixed with a tinge of sadness at the fact that three years after he last saw his niece, he would see her in a injured state. But he kept that to himself as he looked at Tenzin. "Hope she hasn't been too much of a burden on you, she's always been rowdy."

"Actually she has seen progress." Tenzin leaned forward over the table. "She can airbend."

"Already? I didn't expect her to pick it up so quickly..." Unalaq was amazed that his niece had been able to accomplish such a difficult feat in such short time, but he noticed there was a tinge of sadness in Tenzin's eyes, and it felt like he still had more to say.

"It came at a cost. Amon he- he severed her connection to the other three elements."

Unalaq was speechless for a few seconds, mind reeling about how this must be affecting Korra. Finally he sighed and shook his head sadly. "Is there... any way she can-"

"Actually there is." Unalaq opened his mouth to speak again before noticing Tenzin still had more to say. He straightened and squared his shoulders. "She had a vision of my father a month ago. When she told me I wasn't sure what he had done to help her, but I think I have a theory. Even though Amon had severed her connection to every element apart from air, I believe that he opened them up again, if I'm right this should allow her bending to gradually come back to full strength."

The Chief nodded, bursting with questions that didn't need to be said in front of such a sound theory. "How long would it take to retrain her?"

"I can't say for certain. Possibly a year at maximum." The airbender dipped his head, disappointed that he wasn't able to think of anything more concrete than this outlandish idea.

"The compound is out of the question, my brother would never accept it if she-"

Tenzin held up his hand. "I know. Which is why I believe she should stay on Air Temple Island with me, I know a few experts who can come in to retrain her. Also Republic City will need her for someone to look to."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, agreeing with him. "Agreed. But I don't want a repeat of this incident with the two spirits. I'd like her to come to the North Pole to continue on her spiritual connection. The Avatar State would prove impossible for her to control otherwise."

"It will take about four months for the city to be fully repaired again. After that I'll talk to her about your offer." Tenzin promised, thinking that it should be enough time for her to partially regain her connection with the elements, flashes of the hooded man came to mind as well, she would need to be ready in case _he _came back as well. "Another thing, have there been any sightings of a hooded man using a Jian in the North Pole?" he frowned when a dark look settled on Unalaq.

His fingers clenched in their spots on the table as he nodded. "Just one. Four months ago a man of that description snuck past all of the palace's guards and - and - nearly took my daughter hostage."

The airbender was deep in thought, that was around the same time Tai had begun training alongside Korra. It couldn't possibly be?- "He was here during the blizzard, I believe his objective this time was to capture Korra in her weakened state."

"And he's disappeared once again. I wouldn't put it past him to try again in the future. Keep your guard up, Tenzin." Unalaq trusted that his niece would be safe on the airbender's island, such a isolated location would not be easy to get to unless you were an airbender or waterbender.

"I will, old friend."

"Father." a smile grew on him as he turned around and moved towards the just opened sliding door, dropping to his knees and wrapping his fragile daughter in a warm embrace. "I- I am fine." her muffled voice said.

He nodded and pulled back, keeping a hand on both of her shoulders as he studied her for any bruises or wounds. With relief, there weren't any. "I'm glad you're safe Kiri."

"If it helps, I am as well." He chuckled quietly as he continued the warm embrace, wanting to keep her close by.

Tenzin moved towards the two of them just as Desna cleared his throat from somewhere behind his twin sister. "I believe we're ready, father."

Unalaq blinked twice. "Oh, what? Yes right." he straightened as his daughter pulled herself away from his hands, stepping back into the hallway next to her brother to allow him and Tenzin to step out.

"I think it's time we thank everyone for their hospitality." she suggested quietly to her father. He nodded in agreement as at an unspoken word his two children moved towards the frontroom, which was currently dominated by the noises of yapping and chattering, and sounds of laughter and quiet murmuring. Kirima had never met such.. vibrant people before. Is this what the world outside the North Pole was really like?

She kept step with her brother as they made their way into the chaotic sounding room, watching as the airbending boy was knocked over the back of a sofa by the tiny wolf pup, as it stood on his chest it's ears pricked and it looked towards the two new arrivals, and began to yap excitedly. The boy whose chest it stood on sat up and rubbed his head, nodding at her as nearby Bolin grinned.

The slight girl found a familiar tinge threatening to color her cheeks again when the stout boy looked at her, and she averted her gaze and stepped to the side of the doorway, keeping close to her brother as Tenzin and Unalaq came through, hands clasped behind their back and expressions serious.

This managed to quiet the room down a fair bit, although the happy couple in their corner were still murmuring to each other. The loudest ones in the room were of course Meelo and Ikki, who only stilled for a second before running out of the room through the two men's legs, getting a noticeably sharp sigh of relief from their older sister curled up in the armchair across from the happy couple. Jinora peered over the open book and snapped it shut, placing it neatly on her lap as she gave her dad and the Northern Chieftain her full attention.

Tai for his part was still on the floor, and still rubbing his hair as he stood up and leaned against the wall nearby, near where Bolin was perched on the arm of the chair. Kaze continued to yap and bark around his feet until Asami picked him up and placed him onto her lap, stroking his ears to quieten him as she sat on the couch near Bolin.

Everyone looked at Mako and Korra. He got the hint and tapped her on the shoulder, steering her around and pointing at her gathered family. He nodded and shifted back from her towards the edge of the couch. A smile broke out on her as she ran across the room and grabbed the twins in a powerhouse hug, lifting both of them at the same time. "Korra..." Desna managed to grunt out as at the same time Kirima squeaked.

She caught herself and brought them back down to earth, putting a hand on both of their shoulder while she studied Kirima. "Rested up?" she said with a light tone, glad that the vibrant feeling in her chest was still ticking along.

The slight girl nodded and smiled gingerly as Desna rolled his eyes at his boisterous cousin's display, although he stopped with a curt look from Unalaq. "Korra, how have you been-"

"Great, uncle! Tenzin's been real nice to me, I can finally airbend and-" As she babbled, Tenzin and Unalaq shared a brief look of worry, before disappearing as the girl's cheeks reddened while looking at the firebending boy sitting in the corner. "-And uh, yeah, it's been -um- quite good." she had calmed down by now, standing still and bowing her head as a gesture of respect towards her uncle.

He wasn't sure if he should ask her so soon about her problem, so for now he settled for a smile. "That's good to hear." his smile fell away a little when he glanced at his daughter, who had her head bowed as if she was thinking the same thing, and thinking of the punishment that would have to come of it.

Before he could speak Tenzin placed a hand on his shoulder as he moved into the center of the room, making sure everyone's eyes were on him. "Introductions are in order. This is Chief Unalaq of the Northern Water Tribe, and his son Desna. I believe most of you already know his daughter." Bolin, Tai and Asami all nodded, wondering why he was introducing them like this.

"I must thank all of you for your selfless actions concerning my daughter. If you hadn't been nearby during that blizzard..." he paused, trying not to think of what would have happened if that hooded man had taken her again. "In any case, you all have my and the Northern Water Tribe's gratitude." Unalaq noticed that one of them, the earthbending boy, seemed to be bursting with questions. He straightened and nodded at him.

Bolin's mouth hung there for a few seconds as he worked out what he actually wanted to ask. "Oh. I. Thank you- uh -sir, I mean Chief! Heh." he shut his mouth for a few seconds before trying again. "Do you know why she was on her own, sir?" he ignored the warning looks Mako gave him, instead gulping and squaring his shoulders as he stood in front of one of the world's leaders.

"Yes. I do, young man. But I believe my daughter should explain herself rather than I doing it for her." Unalaq sighed as he glanced sideways at Kirima, who had a sullen look on her as she took two steps forwards, not looking at anyone in the room, especially the earthbending boy.

"Tradition is everything where I come from. And being part of the... leading family, it is even more. Bolin-" she looked up after a few seconds, locking her calm eyes with his impossibly naive ones, and kept it like that as she took a deep breath. "I am my father's daughter, and there are certain things I have to do to keep the spirits satisfied. Even if I do not agree with them." she studiously avoided dwelling too much on the slightly unforgiving sheen in her father's eyes, or the self-hating one her brother had.

"What? What do you have to do?" his incredulous tone was evident, and she guessed he had never adhered strongly to tradition. The hopeful side of her would like to ask him about it sometime in the future.

She found that her throat had grown tight, and now she wasn't certain if she should be telling him. But she took another deep breath, and mustered up the courage to do it. "Marriage. Where I come from it is expected that I will be wed to one of the sons of the other families, so that-" she caught herself, hating the devastation forming on him already. The next part would crush him even further. "So that the bloodline will remain pure and free of outside influence." she forced out.

The boy was silent for a few seconds as he worked out what she meant. "But... at least you get to choose right?" he asked with a hopeful tone, his eyes wishing, _pleading_ that she would say yes. Kirima gave a stiff shake of the head as she saw her cousin turn towards the wall, her eyes closed for a few seconds.

"But-" Bolin tried to continue, to work out exactly how something like this could ever be a good idea.

Korra had leveled a smoldering gaze at the wall, and her hands were bunched up into fists as she threatened to embed her knuckles into it. She bowed her head as she turned her head slightly towards him. "That's how it is. Nothing can change it." she let out a explosive sigh, torn up at seeing his broad shoulders sag and his head droop in forced acceptance.

Desna wasn't sure what do here. So he did what he was _taught_. "Tradition must be kept, Bolin."

His sister bowed her head and stared at the floor. "I'm sorry."

The room was silent, and she kept up her study of the floor as Unalaq stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He didn't say anything, merely bowing his head as well. Sometimes he hated tradition. He looked at everyone as he suppressed a sigh. "Once again, I thank all of you for keeping her safe, especially you, Bolin. Our boat will be arriving soon, and we must depart."

Without any ceremony at all he stepped towards the sliding door, his head bowed the entire time as he waited for his children to follow him out into the cold. Desna kept his gaze fixed on the floor the entire time, curious mix of anger and acceptance on him as he stepped out after his father. Kirima lingered for a moment, before nodding stiffly at Bolin and rushing out of the room after her brother and father. With a soft thud the door closed, and the room was completely silent as everyone sat still engaged in their own thoughts.

"Korra, how long until our boat arrives?" Bolin murmured after a while, surprising everyone a little.

She sighed and folded her arms together. "Four hours."

"I just want to go home." he said, more to himself than her or the others.

* * *

**A/N**

And that's Breaking Ice. I'll be going back over the chapters and will occasionally fix any glaring errors or mistakes I spot, but I think for the most part they're all finished and ready to be enjoyed.

At about the end of September I'll be posting the first chapter of Book 2: Shattered Earth. So I hope you've had a good time reading this and Rising Tide, and I can't wait for you all to enjoy the next one!

Please remember to review and criticize, I get off on it. Totally and completely.


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